A VARIED BAG 369 



Scotland. It goes South early, and affords little or no winter 

 shooting in this country. In the early autumn some flight 

 shooting and stalking are to be had in its breeding homes. 



THE PINK-FOOTED GOOSE 



This is the principal of the grey geese to afford sport ; it is 

 this species that gives such a great deal of shooting on the 

 north Norfolk coast, but it is not found in Ireland, which is 

 famed in winter for its black geese the locally miscalled bernicle, 

 i.e. the brent goose, which, if not now found in thousands of 

 acres, as described in Wild Sports of the West, are still migrants 

 in their hundreds of thousands. 



The brent goose is entirely a marine feeder, and is con- 

 sequently, along with the widgeon, the great game of the punt 

 gunner. There are many other varieties of geese, both migrants 

 and introductions, like the Canada goose, but they count for 

 very little in sport in this country, whereas in Egypt, on the Nile, 

 wonderful sport has been had with Egyptian geese, and there is 

 a regular harvest for Canada geese in America, where as many 

 as 200 flighting birds have been shot in a day by one gunner. 

 The beginner in punt gunning cannot do better than buy a 

 second-hand gun and punt, and learn from them what he really 

 wants, which will never be quite the same for any two men. 

 Much depends upon the man himself, whether he intends to 

 have assistance, and whether he has also a yacht to carry him 

 and his punt and guns abroad. As many people have started 

 this sport who have not gone on with it, probably advertising 

 for the outfit would be a certain way of obtaining it at small 

 cost, even if the gun-shops were drawn blank, which is not 

 likely at any time. To be a punt gunner, one has to place 

 oneself at the call of the wind, at the mercy of the wave, and to 

 become the plaything of the tide. But then revenge is sweeping, 

 if it is not also sweet 



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