The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 539 



wagon was driven along on the windward side 

 with no one looking at geese or even talking 

 about geese. As they were rarely shot at from a 

 wagon or horse, it was easy to get within seventy 

 yards or so. The team was then suddenly wheeled 

 and sent in wildest run directly at them. As geese 

 almost always rise against the wind, the few sec- 

 onds lost in getting under way often brought the 

 bouncing wagon directly under a flapping and 

 honking huddle of black, white, and gray, thump- 

 ing the air in all directions. To land one with 

 each barrel without landing on your head behind 

 the wagon was the main problem, while sometimes 

 the next question was whether the driver would 

 be able to stop the horses while anything was left 

 of the wagon. 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 



Less imposing in size and voice than the Can- 

 ada goose, the white-fronted goose is still an im- 

 portant element everywhere in goose-shooting and 

 nowhere more so than on the Pacific Coast. Here, 

 as in the Western states, he is called " brant " or 

 "gray brant," to distinguish him from the dark 

 brant of the sea-coast. But he is not a brant, 

 cares almost nothing for salt water, but loves the 

 plain rolling afar in all the wavy lines of light the 

 sun can weave on undulating green, especially 

 where some bright gem of a lake bestuds its 



