In the Haunts of Wild Fowl 123 



Suddenly the sky was darkened with such 

 a flock of blackducks as I had never seen at 

 close range. There must have been a thou- 

 sand of them. They sailed straight in and 

 pitched in our decoys and rolled up in a 

 great black sheet within easy gunshot. 



Trembling with excitement, I raised to 

 make the one mighty pot-shot of my life and 

 kill a hundred, when George seized my arm. 



"Don't shoot. There's a hundred geese 

 comin' right in. Don't fool with blackducks 

 — this is goose day." 



I let them alone and killed two geese out 

 of the bunch that came, but I've regretted 

 that lost shot into those blackducks a thou- 

 sand times since, when they have been tan- 

 talizing me on fair days with their insolent 

 display of knowledge. 



When the tide had ebbed off at the end of 

 three hours we had seventeen geese that 

 weighed 214 pounds. We hung them up on 

 the big foreboom of the Dixie, George and I 



