264 FEATHERED GAME 



filling up as though they thought that the next 

 station was to be Labrador, and no ''five min- 

 utes for refreshments" by the way. The ease 

 and grace of their movements were a matter of 

 great surprise to me, and it can never be truth- 

 fully said that the Goose is either clumsy or 

 stupid. But luck was against me ; the tide was 

 falling, food was abundant where they had' set- 

 tled and they came no nearer. At last an 

 alarming cry from the watchful bird on duty 

 and again the flock took wing and flew away. I 

 looked about for the cause of their departure 

 and saw coming down the marsh half-a-mile 

 off two gunners, whose movements had caused 

 my feathered friends to leave thus uncere- 

 moniously. So I had wasted a full hour in try- 

 ing to get within distance — and yet perhaps not 

 wasted, for to my mind no time should be con- 

 sidered wasted when spent in the good company 

 of the brave gray Goose. 



The general impression outside the circle of 

 the shooting fraternity seems to be that the 

 Goose is a big, clumsy bungler — a most thick- 

 skulled, slow-witted bird, but no sportsman who 

 is at all acquainted with him will ever pass such 

 a judgment. Seen moving on the water in their 



