I4 SHOOTING THE GOOSE 



belongs alone to the bernacle. It is not astonishing, 

 therefore, to learn that as many as seventeen of these 

 birds have been known to fall victims in one day to 

 the shoulder-guns of two sportsmen in that district. 



The brent goose is a very different type of bird ; 

 and, all things considered, I think it is the wildest 

 and most vigilant of all the geese. In seasons of 

 severe frost brent geese abound on our coasts, more 

 especially on the eastern seaboard the Wash, the 

 Essex Blackwater, in England, and the Cromarty 

 Firth in Scotland, being some of their noted haunts. 

 In Ireland, too, brent are found in considerable 

 numbers; and, generally speaking, wherever the 

 exposed character of their surroundings seems to 

 guarantee their safety, and the sea-grass (Zostera 

 marine?) grows luxuriantly, there the brent will 

 assemble in their thousands. In some parts of 

 France, during even mild winters, I have seen many 

 acres of mudflats simply covered with their black 

 masses. 



Inasmuch as the grey and black geese are in all 

 respects so different in their habits, it will perhaps be 

 better to deal first of all with the subject of the grey 

 geese, and reserve the discussion of the brent geese 

 and the methods of shooting them till the latter part 

 of this chapter. 



