239 



of France may be deemed too rocky and sandy for 

 geese and ducks, there are nevertheless several places 

 where the feeding is good, and the locality otherwise 

 attractive to fowl. Colonel Hawker speaks very 

 highly of the district between Cherbourg and Caren- 

 tan as a wild-fowl resort ; but I have been unable to 

 obtain any authentic information as to its merits as a 

 fowling-station in these days. 



Undoubtedly some of the finest and most exten- 

 sive feeding-grounds on the west coast are to be 

 found in the Gulf of Morbihan, and thither large 

 flights of brent geese and widgeon wend their way 

 during autumn and winter. For nearly ten years, 

 under the auspices of some French friends, I have 

 shot in this gulf with extraordinary success, and using 

 it as a centre I occasionally explored other parts 

 of the French coast down to the river Loire. Both 

 brent and widgeon seemed to follow the coast-route 

 coming south in early winter, and for some days prior 

 to their appearance in the Morbihan they might be 

 observed in the Bay of Quiberon on the open coast. 

 An easterly wind, however, drives them on a lee shore 

 in this bay, and when it blows hard from that quarter 

 they at once fly into the gulf for shelter and food. 



In his ' Bird-Life of the Borders,' Mr. Chapman 

 states that brent were sometimes numerous in the 



