298 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
of pure white, as we gazed at the huddled bunches of 
snow-geese, standing closely together, forming tents of 
the purest white, we imagined them the legions of a 
vast encampment. 
How often that sight has returned to me, and how I 
have wished that nature had endowed me with, the 
skill to have sketched, then reproduced in oil that grand 
scene, for I have always felt that it was the acme, the 
extreme, the most picturesquely beautiful of any I had 
ever seen of wild life. 
We had a span of young horses ; they were fiery and 
restless 5 they were anxious to go, and the wind blow- 
ing fresh, the ground hard, smooth and free from ruts, 
we told the driver to let themrun. Off they went like 
the wind, toward the geese. A few preliminary honks, 
and then a thousand gray bodies moved closely together 
and stretched up their long black necks in wonder and 
affright. As we neared them, from a thousand throats 
discordant sounds were uttered by the frightened birds. 
We gained on them, but their long, slow sweep of wide 
wings was too much for speedy horses, and the field was 
soon left to our control and occupancy. 
It was extremely foolish to have done this, but 
carried away with excitement and thinking they would 
return again later in the afternoon, we drove them out 
thoroughly alarmed. 
Our blind we made in the centre of the field, far 
from the fence. We at first thought it impossible to 
make one that would conceal us, and not frighten the 
geese. I had noticed a sprinkling of corn stalks scat- 
tered here and tiere on the black ground, and we de- 
cided to have a blind. We spread an old horse blanket 
on the damp ground, got some hay, a few corn stalks, 
