GEESE 267 



whilst at another possibly not as many hundreds are 

 observable. In the best seasons I have for weeks 

 together observed several thousands of these grey geese 

 flighting night and morning over the Yorkshire Wolds 

 or resting upon the islands of the Upper Humber. 



Novices sometimes express surprise that not more 

 grey geese are shot by punt-gunners. The answer to 

 this is, however, that grey geese are both day and 

 inland feeders, and therefore in open weather are usually 

 only to be found on the tidal waters at night. When 

 newly arrived in the autumn grey geese may now and 

 again be approached by a gunning-punt, but after re- 

 ceiving their baptism of fire at the commencement of a 

 season, a remarkable combination of most fortuitous 

 circumstances is needed to enable punt-gunners to 

 outwit a gaggle of these birds upon the water. 



On first visiting a certain estuary in the north, I 

 was much surprised to find that the professional punt- 

 gunners of the neighbourhood would seldom attempt 

 to punt to the big gaggles of pink-footed geese that 

 were to be heard and seen each night and morning. 

 One of these men, who had shot for forty years in that 

 locality, was at great pains to initiate me into the 

 mysteries of goose-shooting, but even then my inno- 

 cence and sanguine temperament frequently caused me 

 to attempt to stalk with the gunning-punt every gaggle 

 that came in my way. The thing appeared so easy : 

 there were the geese, looking so big and handsome, and 

 only a narrow strip of water separating us, that I was 

 continually impelled to go after them, in fact I could 

 not resist the temptation for a long time. Many 

 fruitless journeys and weary paddlings home against 

 tide taught me better, until at length I came philoso- 



