ANSER ANSER 83 



of the approach of his game. To me this form of sport is very 

 fascinating for a few hours, though I admit that it requires great 

 patience, as it is often a long wait between the flocks as they come 

 within reach, and often the temper is tried b> the persistent way in 

 which birds continue, one tlock after the other, to fly past, either to 

 the right or left, low down, but much too far off to get a shot. 

 When, however, the birds fly kindly, it is very pleasant to hear the 

 constant loud calls, the swish-swish of the wings as they pass, 

 answered by the crack of your 1'2-bore, and the thud of the fat birds 

 as they kiss mother earth for the last time. Of course, in this way, 

 your bag of geese at all events, won't take many men to carry it, but 

 there is no end to the variety, both of the game killed and the way of 

 killing it. First, perhaps, comes a flight of whistlers in no formation 

 of any sort, and you cover them with your gun, and let them go after 

 you have made sure that you could have dropped a dozen, or if you 

 want food for your men, you do fire and drop a couple. Then a few 

 noisy little cotton-teal fly past in follow-my-leader fashion, each bird 

 anxious to get in front of the others, and each determined that no 

 other shall pass him. Next a flight of mallard, pintail, or gadwall 

 may pass, and the loud, dull smacks on the ground that follow the 

 report of the gun means so many good-eating ducks. As a rule, you 

 will know what you have got by their appearance and flight, but a 

 shoveller will sometimes imitate the gadwall very closely, and the 

 result is disappointing. A flock or two of blue-wing or grey teal 

 may now vary the sport, flying lower but even quicker than the 

 ducks; and, last of all, in the distance, the geese will trumpet forth 

 their approach, and after their arrival flocks of all sorts will pass in 

 increasing numbers until it is too dark to see, and the bag collected, 

 there is nothing left but to go home. In the early morning the routine 

 is reversed, and the geese are the first to be got, and the whistlers 

 and cotton-teal the last. 



Geese are almost invariably vegetarians, and get their food by 

 grazing, in which way large flocks will do immense damage to young 

 crops in a single night. They are destructive birds also, owing to the 

 fact that they pull so much of what they feed on up b\- the roots, and 

 thus destroy what they do not eat. 



