WILD GEESE. 21 
in hopes of a good flock coming close to me, when, alas ! I 
heard cries of alarm from the birds furthest away on my right, 
and after a minute or two they began to fly up, and I could 
see against the sky a man riding towards them. The geese 
in front of me all pricked up their heads and were getting 
ready to be ofi'; so I was obliged to jump and send both 
barrels at them as my only chance; and by good luck, or 
rather thanks to the large shot, I killed two, not enough to 
recompense one for lying cramped up for so long ; but still 
I was more than repaid by the sight of so many wild geese 
close to me, and being able to watch their movements. Any 
one who would take the trouble to try punt-shooting with a 
big gun below Seville and on the Laguna de la Janda might 
make some wonderful bags, as the enormous quantities of 
Geese, Wigeon, and other ducks can only be approached with 
the aid of a punt. When near the edge of water you can 
always approach Ducks with a stalking-horse; and Geese will 
allow this on their first arrival, but soon become too wary. 
Golden Plover are extremely abundant in vast flocks from 
November to March. On their first arrival they are not so 
wild as afterwards. They can always be " got at " with a 
stalking-horse ; but as good a plan to shoot them as any is to 
stand still in some place which they frequent on a windy day, 
when they will often fly within a few yards. Peewits are nu- 
merous, but not worth shooting, as is the case with Curlews ; 
but the latter are, as elsewhere, much too wary to allow them- 
selves to be shot, and during the whole time I was in Anda- 
lucia I never but once had the chance of killing one. 
Woodcocks in some seasons are numerous ; but five or six 
couple in a day is a very good bag, very diff'erent from Albanian 
shooting. Partridges (C rubra) are not worth the trouble of 
going after, either for sport or for the table ; in some places 
there are a good number, but not near Gibraltar ; they are the 
chief object of sport with the Spaniards, who kill them at all 
seasons, even shooting them from the nest. Quails are, during 
the entrada or autumnal migration, so extremely abundant 
that, if there has been a westerly wind for a few days in Sep- 
tember when they are on passage, there is really no limit to 
