202 FIELD SHOOTING. 



pick up and fatten upon. In such places the flocks 

 alight in the middle of the wide pastures, and are 

 very hard to get at. Oftentimes the first notice 

 we have of the arrival of the wild geese is their 

 hoarse call in the air, as they fly by night. When 

 great flocks of the various kinds of wild geese are 

 coming north in spring, or going south at the near 

 approach of winter, they may be heard calling to 

 and answering each other nearly all night long. 

 The Sangamon used to be a capital place for wild 

 geese, and there is still good shooting there. 



The best situation for the shooter is behind a 

 hedge or in a bunch of weeds at a fence near their 

 crossing-places as they go to feed. It is best when 

 they are flying to windward. The wild geese have 

 regular crossing-places, and these may be easily 

 ascertained by watching the flights of the flocks. 

 The shooter must go to his station very early in 

 the morning, before they begin to fly. They fly 

 very early, especially if the weather is warm and 

 pleasant. In cold, windy weather they are later. 

 Commonly they are on the wing about break of 

 day, and I have seen them flying when it was still 

 so near dark that I could hardly tell whether a 

 flock was Canada geese, brant geese, or the so- 

 called Mexican geese. When the wild geese come 



