i8o SHOOTING THE GOOSE 



shots, bagging eighty-one birds, besides several others 

 which were temporarily lost at dusk and recovered 

 next morning. The gale on that occasion lasted 

 three days and nights with but one short lull. Al- 

 though these are, of course, ideal moments for goose- 

 shooting, it seems from the records in my diary that 

 brent are by no means inaccessible in fine settled 

 weather, provided that they occupy ground suitable 

 for approaching them. In one week under these 

 placid conditions I have entries which show that I 

 killed as many as three hundred birds, and the same 

 thing occurred at other subsequent periods when I 

 was shooting. In ' dead ' calms the punt looms up 

 too large, and throws too much shade on the glassy 

 water to enable one to approach geese, and they 

 show, moreover, a tendency to scatter widely over 

 the flats, which gives them greater scope for their 

 observations. 



During thick fogs brent scarcely utter a sound, 

 and are very hard to find. Possessing a strong 

 abhorrence of this type of weather, and being ex- 

 tremely sensitive of its advent, I have observed that 

 they frequently betake themselves to the open coast 

 from motives of safety some hours before the fog sets 

 in. If, however, by any chance they are overtaken 

 by it, they seem to lose themselves entirely, and in 



