BERNACLE SHOOTING ON WHYRILL MARSH. 179 



are pretty high, this tract of land with short grass 

 on it is not always entirely covered, but parts of it 

 remain above water, and on this the geese delight 

 to feed. They seldom feed much in the daytime, 

 but sit out in the middle of the marsh for hours 

 together, quite motionless, till night, when they 

 separate into small flocks, and fly about to the 

 different uncovered spots to feed. Within about a 

 mile of the shore I had some relations living, who 

 were fond of bernacle shooting, and who were up to 

 all the dodges necessary for waylaying these birds, 

 who were too crafty to be killed in the daytime. 



As a rule, these geese used to arrive in October, 



and the 7th was the day on which they were 



looked for, and it was very seldom I did not get 



a letter, dated October 7th, to say "the bernacles 



have arrived." They used to come in one or two 



small flocks, stay a few days, and then disappear for 



a time. They then returned in great numbers, and 



it was computed that there were a thousand pounds 



worth of bernacles when they had returned with those 



friends that they had, no doubt, gone to fetch from 



whence I could never quite make out. But there 



they used to sit, never within half a mile of the shore, 



in a huge blue-looking mass that covered acres of 



N 2 



