CHAPTER V 



Birds in Authority 



I WAS on my way to the West of England, and from 

 Waterloo for about a hundred and twenty miles 

 had but one fellow-traveller in the carriage. A man 

 of a fine presence, about sixty ; from his keen, alert 

 eyes, hard weathered face, and his dress I took him 

 to be a sportsman. He very soon let me know that he 

 was one, as great an enthusiast as one could meet ; 

 and as he was companionable and we talked the 

 whole time, I got to know a good deal about him. 

 Shooting and fishing were his chief pleasures and in- 

 terest in life : he had followed both from his early 

 years, in and out of England. For the last ten or 

 twelve years he had lived at the antipodes, where he 

 held an important position in one of the colonies ; 

 but somehow the sports he loved best had not the 

 same relish for him in that distant country as at home, 

 and he was accustomed to take frequent and long 

 holidays to have a month on the moors and in the 

 coverts and to go on shooting and fishing excursions 

 to the continent. Wild-fowling was perhaps the 

 kind of sport he loved best of all, and we soon got on 

 the subject of wild geese. 



43 



