WE HAVE ENOUGH AND TO SPARE 121 



we were loading, would fly a few yards distant, 

 and drop into the rice-beds like the English 

 snipe. I was told that these birds which we 

 had been shooting at singly came from the 

 prairie every evening at the same time as on 

 that night, starting from wherever they were. 

 They feed on the plains all day on grass- 

 hoppers, beetles, and bugs of all kinds, then 

 start for the water in the lagoon and surround- 

 ing lakes at that time of day. During the 

 night they gather into flocks, and those that 

 had the shooting then generally had fine sport, 

 as we were told. Dusk had come upon us, 

 and still the air was full of birds, but it had 

 become a chance shooting, and therefore no 

 pleasure, so I picked up the box and sought 

 the shore. I found Harry had nineteen, while 

 my pile panned out sixteen, most of them 

 mallards, with a sprinkling of teal and blue- 

 wing. At nine o'clock we were back at the 

 house, greatly delighted with the afternoon's 

 excitement. The game was accumulating so 

 fast that Harry proposed, and I appreciated it, 

 that, in addition to the geese already given to 

 his neighbours, we should send them each a 

 pair of ducks, which was done the next 



