53^ The l4^ater-fowl Family 



were so melodious in the sky ; there, another 

 band a hundred strong in a long line end fore- 

 most and winding like a snake out of the blue, 

 every wing so still it seemed as if the motion 

 must be due to the constant changing of the 

 reverse curves, yet with the whole lowering 

 slowly, certainly, and silently toward the centre 

 of the pond. Others were in the wedge-shaped 

 masses or converging lines in which they thread 

 the upper sky on long flights, but the same rule 

 prevailed in all, general silence and a slow drifting 

 downward to the water as gently as a snowflake, 

 often skimming along its surface for several yards, 

 with every wing outstretched before lowering the 

 black feet, raising the black head, and throwing 

 back the big, gray wings for the final splash. 



Yet with all this abundance that covered acres 

 of water almost solid with geese, in an hour or 

 two it was no easy matter to get one, even long 

 before the tenderfoot with his cheap gun, the 

 market shooter with his barrels of ammunition, 

 or big-bag swine without the excuse of the 

 market shooter, had made them far wilder. A 

 shot with the gun from anywhere along the edge 

 of the pond was next to impossible, and it was 

 scarcely any better when they flew out, for a 

 goose can climb high in air quite rapidly for so 

 large a bird, and he knew enough to do it. Any 

 kind of a blind in the water at once aroused their 



