WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 203 



over their crossing-places well in the air, the 

 shooter must find some means of concealment. If 

 there is no hedge under which to crouch down, he 

 must lie on the dead grass or in the weeds, 

 with clothes of the proper color to deceive the 

 geese and elude the watchful eyes of their leaders. 

 The weeds are often three feet high and thick, and 

 in these cover for the shooter may be found. He 

 must keep quite still until the geese, windward 

 bound, are right over him. If he does not do so, 

 his movement will be seen, he will hear the cry 

 which gave notice to the sleeping Romans of the 

 stealthy footsteps of the Gauls, and he will find, 

 whether he shoots or not, that the geese have saved 

 the Capital. On windy mornings wild geese fly 

 very low, often not more than fifteen or twenty 

 feet from the ground. In calm, clear weather they 

 are much higher. Nothing can be done at the 

 hedges and fences in such weather, and the shooter 

 must then go to the corn-fields where they feed. 



A field in which the corn is cut up and shocked 

 affords a promising chance. The shooter may build 

 a little house of corn-stalks like a shock, in the 

 row of shocks, and get inside of it. Some men 

 get behind a corn-shock, but the plan is not a 

 good one. In circling round the field one of the 



