I20 Unexplored Spain 



ahead, it becomes tenfold harder to force the remaining geese to 

 the guns. 



Each gun should hold his fire till the main bodies of geese 

 are well on wing and seen to be heading in towards the shooting- 

 line. The " best possible " chances are thus secured, and not 

 for one gun only, but quite possibly for all, as several hundred 

 geese pass down the line. A premature shot, on the contrary, 

 will ruin the best-planned drive, and bring down merited abuse 

 from the rest of the party with scathing contempt from the 

 drivers. 



Taking single troops at a time, as many as six or eight 

 separate drives may be worked into a long day. Our first drive 

 to-day produced three geese, the second was blank, while five 

 greylags rewarded the third attempt. In the last instance 

 three of the guns received welcome aid from a string of ojos^ 

 or land -springs, around which grew a fringe of green rushes, 

 affording excellent cover. 



By four o'clock we had secured, in five drives, eleven geese 

 and a wigeon. We then, on information received, changing our 

 plan, rode off to a point which the keeper of that district had 

 noted was being used by the geese as a dorniidero, or sleeping- 

 place ; and here, as dusk fell, an hour's " flighting " added six 

 more greylags to that day's total. 



The above may be put down as a fair average day's results 

 in a dry season. From a dozen to a score of driven geese (and 

 occasionally many more) represent, with such game as greylags, 

 a degree and a quality of sport that is ill-represented by cold 

 numerals- 

 There are spots in the marisma where the configuration of 

 the shore-line enables the flight of the geese, when disturbed, 

 to be foretold with certainty. For geese will not cross dry 

 land : their retreat is always to the open waters. In such 

 situations excellent results accrue from placing the gun-line at a 

 right angle to the expected line of flight, while all the " beaters," 

 save one or two to flush the fowl, are stationed as " stops " 

 between the geese and their objective. On rising, the birds thus 

 find themselves confronted by a long line of horsemen who 

 intercept their natural retreat, and, in effect, force them back 

 towards the land. Should the operation be well executed, the 

 landmost gun will probably be the first to fire ; while the geese 



