WILD GEESE. 347 



roar, as if they were encouraging one another or holding 

 an animated debate on their future course of action. 

 When they seem to have agreed on a certain point, the 

 creeaunk of some sturdy gander may then be heard above 

 the gabbling din of the others, as if he vs^ere giving a 

 I^eremptory decision on the subject. They fly rather low 

 in windy, rainy, and murky weather. That is the time 

 for sportsmen to make big bags in flight shooting, espe- 

 cially if they have a good place of concealment. The 

 shot most generally used is No. 1, though B and BB are 

 very popular with some of the most experienced wild- 

 fowlers on the Continent, but others think that nothing 

 will compare with a rifle, especially in fine weather, 

 when the birds keep high in the air, or where they have 

 been shot at so much that they carefully avoid the 

 vicinity of fences and thickets, and even look with sus- 

 picion upon a bundle of straw in the stubble. Some per- 

 sons dwelling along the sea-shore sail to geese in a small 

 yacht or a large boat, and use punt-guns for destroying 

 them. Their first effort is to get to the windward of a 

 gaggle, in order to have the wind and sea in their favor 

 for shooting, and to be able to obtain wing shots when 

 the birds rise from the water. The best bags are gener- 

 ally made before and after a storm, but, if the waves 

 are not too heavy, large numbers may also be killed dur- 

 ing the prevalence of a stiff gale, as the birds seem to be 

 in a bewildered condition at that time, and allow the 

 boat to come quite close before they attempt to fly away. 

 A punt-gun is not considered a legitimate weapon among 

 gentlemen, so it is relegated to the craft of the market- 

 hunter. Many men who look with a species of mild 

 horror on punting, do not hesitate to kill geese and 

 ducks from sneak-boats, and so far did they carry this 

 system of destruction that some of the Western States 

 have had to pass a law prohibiting the killing of wild 

 fowl by means of any floating device, whether it be a 



