266 SPORT INDEED 



end of Lake Okanagan. His lordship owns almost 

 countless herds of cattle and sheep and droves of 

 horses and pigs. We saw a couple of young sports- 

 men here who boasted of being relatives of the Duke 

 of Argyle ; so taking it altogether, the little town was 

 full of fuss and noble feathers. The Earl's lower 

 ranch, Mission, has been irrigated and rented out in 

 plots of twenty acres or more to fruit farmers, for 

 whose use it is peculiarly adapted. 



Four of us had good sport during the week, shoot- 

 ing prairie-chickens, ruffed grouse and wild geese. A 

 little lake four miles away was almost covered during 

 daytime with the geese and ducks. The geese leave 

 the lake every morning and evening to feed on the 

 stubble left standing in the wheat-fields, and on their 

 passage to and fro comes the only chance to shoot 

 them. On arriving here we left our car, selected fa- 

 vorable locations for sinking pits to shoot from, and 

 then went to work with spades and a railroad crow- 

 bar. After the plowed surface was removed the earth 

 was found to be almost solid black loam, and as this 

 reached down as far as we went, nearly five feet, the 

 digging was hard enough to start the perspiration and 

 blister our hands. When the pits were dug a couple 

 of dozen sheet-iron, decoy geese were set out ; then 

 we covered the edges of the pits with wheat straw, 

 hiding every lump of fresh-turned earth, so that noth- 

 ing could be seen which would excite the suspicion of 



