198 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



the line comes swiftly on, changing fast into a 

 string of black beads. Beside each bead a 

 flickering motion becomes plain, and this soon 

 changes into the rapid beat of dusky wings. 



Swiftly the line advances, the scores of birds 

 that compose it growing larger and darker by 

 the instant, yet they ride the warm air as lightly 

 as a flight of arrows. Though a little larger 

 than mallard ducks, the flight of these brant 

 appears less labored by contrast, and their wings 

 seem to quiver with speed instead of beating the 

 air. Soon each bird is a revolving maze of 

 black and white, and then they set their wings 

 and glide smoothly downward, almost grazing 

 the water some twenty yards beyond our de- 

 coys, and showing a broad skirt of white below 

 the swarthy breast, and a snowy collar around a 

 long jet-black neck. With a hoarse Wa ook, 

 wa ook, wa ook, wa ook from a score of 

 throats, the flock sweeps past our decoys in even 

 line. Keep perfectly still, for they are too far 

 to shoot and they may return. On they go some 

 fifty yards, when the line lengthens and rises in 

 a long string with black wings and backs glisten- 

 ing in the bright sun. 



