WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



On the loth of March last year, when out rabbit-shooting 

 in a small furze cover, I saw a flock of some fifteen or six- 

 teen white-fronted geese hovering overa small clover-field, 

 not far from where I was. My attendant, who has a most 

 violent liking for a ' wild-goose-chace,' immediately caught 

 up the dogs, and made me sit down to watch the birds, who 

 presently pitched, as we expected, on the clover-field. I was 

 for immediately commencing the campaign against them, 

 but this he would not admit of, and pointing out a part of 

 the field sheltered by a bank overgrown with furze, where 

 the clover was greener than elsewhere, he told me that in 

 ten minutes the birds would be there. Knowing his experi- 

 ence and cunning in these matters I put myself entirely 

 under his orders and waited patiently. The geese, after sit- 

 ting quietly for a few minutes, and surveying the country 

 around, began to plume their feathers, and this done, com- 

 menced feeding in a straight line for the green spot of grass, 

 keeping, however, a constan t watch in all directions. ' ' They 

 will be in that hollow in a minute. Sir," said Simon; "and 

 then, Sir, you must just run for it till you get behind the 

 bank, and then you can easily crawl to within thirty yards of 

 where they will pass." Accordingly, the moment they dis- 

 appeared in the hollow, I started \\t&ra\\y ventre a terre. One 

 of the wary birds, however, evidently not liking that the 

 whole flock should be in the hollow at once, ran back and 

 took up her station on the rising ground which they had 

 just passed over, where she stood with her neck erect and 

 looking in all directions. I was in full view of her.and at the 

 moment was crossing a wet rushy spot of ground; nothing 

 was left for it but to lie flat on the ground, notwithstanding 



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