WILD-GOOSE SHOOTING 147 



should be of service to him on a future and perhaps, 

 more auspicious occasion. 



The chief haunts of the bernacle geese may be 

 said to be on the west coast of Scotland and the 

 north-western portions of our islands; but they are 

 also found in certain localities on the Irish Coast. 

 In the Solway Firth, which is a noted rendezvous 

 for these geese, a resident sportsman says that they 

 feed on the salt marshes by night and spend the day 

 on the sandbanks far out at sea, unless they chance 

 to find some quiet bit of marsh ground to sit upon. 



Their time of flight to the marshes is irregular: 

 sometimes it is at dusk, and often later, up to mid- 

 night. Further north, again, in the Outer Hebrides, 

 Mr. J. G. Duplessis, who is well acquainted with 

 these regions, says that bernacle geese are numerous, 

 and assemble in large flocks. They are more easily 

 obtained, however, than the grey geese, and their 

 chief resorts are on the green islands in tidal waters. 

 In a high wind and during stormy weather they may 

 often be found in sheltered spots, where they may be 

 successfully stalked. When shot at under such con- 

 ditions they fly but a short distance and return in a 

 few minutes to the place from which they have just 

 been disturbed. Wild geese are not usually so con- 

 fiding, but this seems to be a special feature which 



