WILD DUCKS AND GEESE 151 



I had heard geese were very plentiful. Plentiful 

 they were, but extremely wild. I tried many ways 

 of getting within range of them, and eventually 

 came to the conclusion that geese knew more than 

 most people. They can see better than any hawk, 

 can hear better than the most timid deer, have 

 patience compared with which Job's was nothing, 

 and, finally, have a system of communication more 

 wonderful than wireless telegraphy. Altogether, 

 I can take off my hat to the Canada goose and 

 frankly acknowledge that nine times out of ten he 

 can make a fool of me. For, truth to tell, my pride 

 was so humbled after a second trip to Montauk 

 that I felt positively flattered if my friends called 

 me a goose. 



Some of my most satisfactory attempts at secur- 

 ing photographs were obtained by driving in a 

 carriage to within camera-shot of the geese. Like 

 many birds that are afraid of man, the goose has 

 less fear of him when he is in a carriage than in 

 any other place. I have driven fairly close to the 

 great bustard in Russia when stalking them on foot 

 was practically impossible ; in the same way hawks 

 may be approached in a carriage better than in any 

 other way. The great objection to this method, so 

 far as geese were concerned, lay in the fact that 

 frequently the carriage could not go near the places 

 where the geese were. 



Sometimes I tried having them driven over me, 

 and this gave me several good chances. But only 

 in one or two places could this be done with any 

 degree of certainty. 



Stalking in most cases proved impossible. Try 



