IN FLIGHT TIME 185 
plentifully dot this line of country. Round the edges 
of the lonely pools in upland hollows the print-marks 
of webbed feet have certainly been found, and now 
and again the birds that left these have been fired at. 
From a minute description given me of some such by 
one man who fired but missed, one who was not well 
up in bird life, I believe them to have been young 
birds of the lesser black-backed gull species. 
Wild geese, to my certain knowledge, visit the 
stubble fields after the corn is cut ; so do the ducks. 
I am quite inclined to believe, from what I have 
heard and seen, that gulls break their flight to rest 
in some lonely swamp, or on some sheltered wood- 
land pool. 
Flight time gives one much to ponder over. The 
birds come and go, but there are no set rules for 
them. To a certain extent they must be the crea- 
tures of circumstances over which they have little 
control. Food and shelter are needful to the well- 
being of all wild creatures, whether they be high or 
low in the scale. 
Some who rarely move out without a gun in their 
hands, mourn over the decreasing numbers of wild 
things. To these I would say, ' Put the gun in its 
case, and take out a good field-glass in place of it ; 
there is far more pleasure in watching the life in a 
