132 CUER1TUCK MARSHES. 



sand at the spot which the birds frequent, and the 

 ''stand" of living decoys are tethered in front by 

 stout strings fastened to their legs and pinned to -the 

 ground. The geese come to the stools in flocks, 

 and the slaughter at times is enormous, as many as 

 two hundred being no unusual bag, and that is often 

 rounded out with forty or fifty ducks. It is cus- 

 tomary on such occasions to put a live swan or two 

 with the geese decoys, if the sportsman happens to 

 be so fortunate as to possess them, and I never shall 

 forget seeing four swans come to a stand which was 

 located some distance from my own, but in full 

 view from it. I have always believed that birds 

 could converse and had a language of their own, and 

 on this occasion my theory received confirmation 

 strong as holy writ. When I have sat listening hour 

 after hour to the unceasing conversational cack- 

 lings of geese, who appear to be the most talkative 

 of birds, I fancied that I could almost make out the 

 words they uttered, and which were certainly under- 

 stood by the fowls themselves, as the dullest observer 

 would be convinced by their actions. Their ex- 

 pressions of comfort, their mild observations about 

 the weather may not have been quite comprehen- 

 sible, but their cries of alarm, their notes of warn- 

 ing, no one could mistake. Ignorant hearers not 

 versed in go'ose language, and a very pretty tongue 

 I have no doubt it is, may call it contemptuously 

 "gabble," but so is the language of any foreigner 

 "gabble" to those Avho do not understand it. 



In the instance that I am about to mention with 



