A GOOSE SANCTUARY 291 



dunes, being well aware of the ways of sportsmen who 

 practise the rather ambiguous art of flighting, of waiting 

 on the line of flight between the feeding and the sleeping 

 grounds. Sport, to justify itself, should be a battle of 

 wits ; and the fowlers who have succeeded in shooting 

 geese have usually worked hard for it. They have 

 needed a knowledge of the birds* habits, and have faced 

 hard conditions. In any event, such hunters have not 

 much lessened the flocks of geese or frightened them 

 away from a natural and native haunt. The men and the 

 birds have seen the dawn break, which also, in Homer s 

 phrase, is pink-footed ; and felt the mysterious enchant 

 ment of the lights that at dawn and sunset give the fen- 

 land its supreme and special glory. 



Of late greedier and falser methods of warfare have 

 been practised. Gunners dig holes near the shore within 

 reach of the dormitory of the geese. They were willing 

 to face the dangers of travel ; but they must sleep in 

 peace. It used to be an unwritten law that birds should 

 be allowed to rest undisturbed. Men do not shoot duck 

 asleep on the lake or partridges &quot; jugging &quot; in the tus 

 socks, or pheasants roosting in the trees. One quite 

 practical reason is that birds disturbed at night are apt to 

 desert the neighbourhood altogether. And the neigh 

 bourhood becomes famous also for another species, the 

 Canada goose. The introduced pairs have multiplied 

 exceedingly in this part of Norfolk, as on many estates 

 blessed with any sort of lake. I watch their evening and 

 morning migrations in my own neighbourhood, and they 

 demand attention for they make a joyful clamour, almost 

 suggestive of an express train, as they fly high overhead. 

 The Canada geese, too, have attracted errant enemies, 

 who pay little regard to the habits of any bird, whether 

 wild or half tame. The new form of onslaught and the 



