28 THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



In such favourable weather, and with plenty of frost, a 

 bag of from 60 to 80 geese may be made during the month 

 of January. I have obtained as many as 200 after Christ- 

 mas, but with every exertion, as well as with good luck, 

 the average number would seldom exceed eighty of these 

 excessively wary fowl, and in mild winters perhaps not 

 more than from 40 to 50. 



What causes all gunning afloat from Holy Island to be 

 difficult is the fact that the entire estuary dries at low 

 water, and that there are then no creeks and channels 

 along which a boat or duck punt can be paddled up to 

 the birds as they rest or feed on the flats. If this was not 

 the case the geese would not remain, as they would soon 

 be driven away to other haunts. By anchoring a boat 

 behind small promontories or under the shelter of rocks, 

 occasional shots at the geese may be had with a shoulder 

 gun as they fly from the sea to or from the mudflats, 

 presuming always that the wind is strong enough to cause 

 the birds to fly low. 



As to other wild fowl, there are very few. I have never 

 seen a hundred wigeon together, and probably at most 

 a couple of hundred frequent the flats, and then seldom 

 during the daytime. 



In hard frost, wild duck are driven from inland ponds 

 and rivers to the tide, and sometimes a score may be 

 noticed, but usually not more than a half dozen here and 

 there, and these are probably sleeping in safety on the 

 dry ooze far beyond the reach of the fowler's gun. Teal 

 are rare visitants; in ten years I scarce saw a dozen. 

 Among diving ducks, the scaup is the common species at 

 Holy Island, few others of this worthless tribe being seen. 



Many shore birds may be noticed, though few of interest 

 from the gunner's point of view. Plovers, golden and 

 green, are scarce, though they are common on the marshes 

 and fields near the sea shore. In severe weather there are 

 always three or four swans about, both Hooper's and 

 Bewick's. 



