APRIL. STALKING WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 211 



then some peewits saw me as I was advancing in a 

 crouching attitude up to the birds. Had I been 

 walking upright, these peewits would not have 

 taken any notice of me; but the moment that they 

 saw me stooping to conceal myself, they attacked 

 me with screams and cries of alarm sufficient to 

 warn all the country. The geese of course took 

 wing, and left me to return as I came. 



To stalk a flock of wild-geese when feeding is as 

 difficult, if not more so, as to stalk a stag. From 

 the nature of the ground which they feed on, and 

 their unwearied vigilance, unless you have con- 

 cealed yourself beforehand within reach of their 

 feeding-place, it is nearly impossible to approach 

 them. Even if some half-dry ditch or drain passes 

 through the field, and is of sufficient depth to hide 

 the sportsman, supposing he has strength enough 

 of back and of resolution to walk in a stooping 

 position up to his knees in cold water for some hun- 

 dreds of yards, still the birds are most unwilling to 

 approach any such line of ditch, or indeed any 

 other place which can possibly conceal an enemy. 



One of my boys, however, succeeded in getting 

 at this same flock of white-fronted geese in a place 

 where a man could never have done so. He was 

 out for a walk with a gentleman who was staying 

 with me, to whom he was acting as cicerone or 



