OF SHOOTING AND FISHING 75 
of geese at Klondyke but had had no shots at them. 
All the other guns reported big bags, the only com- 
plaint being about the heat of the weather. 
It was necessary for me to leave the next morn- 
ing in order that I might pursue larger game else- 
where, but I returned to this wonderful shooting 
later and had a few more enjoyable days. Octo- 
ber being well advanced, it was no longer necessary 
to rise before dawn, as the flights did not begin 
until midday, so with a young friend, I paddled 
around in the morning and picked up some inter- 
esting specimens. A bittern near the house was 
the first, and then a beautiful egret and some 
glossy ibis. By midday we were off for teal to 
the North Bay, and by good luck I was able to get 
a man who knew every channel and every ‘‘trick 
of the trade.’’ We went past my old blind on 
the No. 1 overflow with the greatest of ease, as the 
man knelt on the stern with one knee, while he 
pushed the boat over the mud with the free foot. 
Thousands of stilts and avocets made the mouth 
of the overflow lively with their plaintive notes. 
In an hour we were across the bay and in a suitable 
place about a hundred yards from the north shore. 
Beyond the tules, perhaps a mile away, the mud 
flats were white with geese, but the wary birds never 
came within hundreds of yards of us. 
Our boat being in very shallow water—perhaps 
an inch deep—did not require to be moored, so we 
established a boat blind, that is to say, we stuck 
willows into the mud all around the boat and then 
some long reeds and tules around these, so that 
