278 GEESE SHOOTING 



all the shooting is on the wing. There are large 

 feeding grounds in the vicinity immense flats 

 covered in places with goose grass. On the flats 

 they feed at low tides, gradually near ing shore as 

 the tide comes in. About half flood tide they be- 

 gin to rise and fly in towards some lakes and the 

 river. In one place they fly over a high rocky 

 promontory with a gap of half a mile wide in it. 

 Along this guns are stationed. Some mornings I 

 have seen fifteen or twenty hunters taking part in 

 the shoot and scarcely a flock passing by without 

 some one getting a crack at it. With possibly 

 the exception of loons, I do not believe there is 

 any other bird at which so much ammunition is 

 wasted, ninety per cent of the shots being fired 

 entirely out of range! A frequent error, when 

 birds are on the wing, is shooting from behind 

 them, the large size of the bird making it appear 

 slower and closer than it really is. The third 

 barrel often goes off then, bang, bang, d 

 always loaded with smokeless powder it brings 

 down no birds, but they claim it is some satisfac- 

 tion to let it go ! If the time of the tide suits, two 

 shooting spells can be had the same day, because 

 when the tide is about at half ebb, they will all 

 return to the flats again. If one is careful not 

 to molest them on the feeding ground, many days 

 of fine shooting can be obtained, but if shot at by 

 night or on the flats, they are soon driven away. 



