THE WILD GOOSE. \2J 



shot tell, for even when quite tame the Canada 

 goose displays a shocking lack of patience when a 

 gentleman attempts to find his distance by trial. 

 He has also a very impolite way of carrying with 

 him, even in the most compact flock, a vast 

 amount of circumambient space that hungers for 

 lead in a manner quite amazing. Zip — zeeoooooo 

 goes the ball, glancing from the very center of 

 the flock, with the Wiff wiff wiff wiff zviff of 

 heavy wings throbbing on your ear, and a medley 

 of white, black, and gray rising into the sky 

 without leaving a feather on the green. But if 

 you have gauged the distance rightly and held 

 the sights of the rifle closely on the center of a 

 single goose, you may hear perhaps a dull tJmp^ 

 and, as the rest of the flock starts skyward on 

 reverberating wing, you may see a gray body 

 stretched on the sod as if smitten with a thunder- 

 bolt hissing hot from the hand of Jove. 



Better than wandering over the plain in search 

 of shots is to sit behind a bush or tree that nods 

 on the bank of some pond where geese spend the 

 day. If convenient, have sticks in the water at 

 different points, and have the rifle-sights adjusted 

 to them by trial before the geese begin to come 



