SUNDRY INCIDENTS OF FOWL AND FOWLING. 267 



blank aim. But I forgot to allow for the high trajectory at 

 so short a distance perhaps 40 yards, never having been so 

 near to Geese before and thus, although the gun lay aligned 

 on the thick of a forest of necks, the whole charge passed 

 clean over them, without touching a feather ! Later in the day 

 I had a modified revenge. The same Geese were rounding a 

 point of land when we " set " to them from inshore. Never 

 were Geese so tame ! So near were we as they crossed 

 our bows, that we could distinctly see their black paddles 

 working away under their barred flanks. They were at the 

 moment too straggled to offer a fair shot ; but as they 

 weathered the point and formed up inside, we had their 

 company in flank and managed to rake them. 



Similarly, on February 28th (1880), my brother W. was 

 out in a punt at Teesmouth when a flight of 60 or 70 Wigeon 

 arrived in from sea, and, after a few gyrations, pitched along 

 the edge of a sand-bank. Here they allowed so near an 

 approach that, though he had only a shoulder-gun, the 3 oz. 

 of shot stopped no less than sixteen, of which fourteen were 

 fairly bagged. The birds were, no doubt, beautifully lined 

 out, still it was an exceptional shot for a shoulder-gun, and 

 in broad daylight. Neither of these two incidents would 

 have occurred except with passage-birds, wearied and resting 

 after long flights. 



Birds of prey can hardly be included in the category of 

 wildfowl, and indeed a list of the Eaptores which are met 

 with on salt water would be very nearly as laconic as the 

 well-known work on the " Keptiles of Ireland " there are 

 no birds of prey on salt water. Yet the two following instances 

 of the occurrence of these rare visitors are perhaps worth 

 recording in this chapter of odds and ends. In the very hard 

 weather towards the end of January, 1881, a large Eagle 

 (probably the White-tailed Sea Eagle, Haliaetus albicilla) 

 appeared on the Northumbrian coast, near Goswick, and 

 remained for several weeks, frequenting the slakes, where he 

 fed on the plentiful supply of " pensioners " which that hard 

 winter produced. This Eagle was seen daily by fishermen 

 and others, and of course strenuous efforts were made to 

 secure him, but always in vain, though several guns were 



