240 SHOOTING THE DUCK AND THE GOOSE 



Bay of Arcachon, but he did not notice any there 

 himself nor on the north coast of the Peninsula 

 during a winter's fowling. A few, perhaps, may 

 wander down to Arcachon, and even further south ; 

 but the principal southern rendezvous of these geese 

 is, I believe, the Gulf of Morbihan. There they are 

 to be found in tens of thousands after the first week 

 in December, and at certain times and seasons they 

 assemble over the zostera-clad ooze banks in dense 

 masses. During severe winters widgeon were quite 

 as numerous as the brent, but we were not necessarily 

 dependent on weather influences for our stock of these 

 birds, for there were always several packs in view on 

 any rough day, even in the mildest weather. Some- 

 thing unusual must, however, have occurred in the 

 autumn of 1893. The season had been so open in 

 the north that comparatively few fowl came to the 

 Morbihan at the regular epoch. A partial failure of 

 the weed on their favourite feeding-grounds may pos- 

 sibly have driven them elsewhere in search of food ; 

 but, whatever was the cause, on December 20, when 

 I joined Captain Gould at our quarters, the scarcity 

 of geese and widgeon was unprecedented, and, in 

 fact, he had fired but six shots during the whole of 

 the previous month. Early in January, a few days' 

 frost completely changed the aspect of affairs, and we 



