108 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



brant that have been roosting in the ponds near 

 by rise into flight. 



Into a hundred divisions breaks the vast horde 

 of water-fowl, each division circling skyward or 

 streaming over your head without seeming to 

 know or care whence came the shot that alarmed 

 them. As the flame again darts upward from 

 your gun and two or three dark bodies come 

 whirling downward, the circle of sky overhead is 

 for a moment cleared, while around its margins 

 thousands of wings belabor the air until you can 

 almost feel the earth tremble. But in a few 

 seconds more the space above you is again 

 thronged with rushing wings. 



Beware how you waste your fire on this flock 

 of teal rising out of the morning's gray, for just 

 behind them the strong wings of a heavy flock of 

 mallards are pounding the air. Beware, too, how 

 you waste your fire even on the mallards, for on 

 the right, and thrillingly near, the Canada goose 

 winds his mellow horn. But how can one reason 

 calmly when the hissing wings of a flock of sprig- 

 tails are heard before one's premises are thought 

 of, and his conclusion is rudely interrupted by a 



