ANSER RUBRIROSTEIS. 69 



either to the right or left, low down, Ijut much too far off to get a shot. 

 When, however, the hir Js flj kindly, it is very pleasant to hear the constant 

 loud calls, the swish-swish of ths wings as they pass, answered by the crack 

 of your 12-bore, and the thud of the fat birds as they kiss mother earth for 

 the last time. Of course, in this way, your bag, of geese at all events, won't 

 take many men to carry it, Init there is no end to the variety, both of the game 

 killed and the way of killing it. First, perhaps, come a flight of Whistlers 

 in no formation of any sort, and you cover them with your gun, and let 

 them go after you have made sure that you could have dropped a dozen, 

 or if vou want food for your men you do fire and drop a couple. Then a 

 few noisy little (Jotton-Teal fly past in follow-my-leader fashion, each bird 

 anxious to get in front of the others, and each determined that no other 

 shall pass him. Next a flight of Mallard, Pintail, or Gadwall may pass, 

 and the loud, dull smacks on the ground that follow the report of the gun 

 mean so man}- good-eating ducks. As a rule, you will know what you 

 have got by their appearance and flight, but a Shoveller will sometimes 

 imitate tho Gadwall very closely, and the result is disappointing. A flock 

 or two of Blue-wing or Grey Teal may now vary the sport, flying lower 

 but even quicker than the ducks ; and, last of all^ in the distance, the geese 

 will trumjiet forth their approach, and after their arrival flocks of all sorts 

 will pass in increasing numbers until it is too dark to see, and the bag 

 collected there is nothing left but to go home. In the early morning the 

 routine is reversed, and the geese are the first to be got, and the Whistlers 

 and Cotton-Teal the last. 



Geese are almost invariably vegetarians, and get their food by grazing, 

 in which way large flocks will do immense damage to young crops in a single 

 night. They are destructive birds also, owing to the fact that they pull so 

 much of what they feed on up by the roots and thus destroy what they do 

 not eat. 



The eggs mentioned by Hume belonged, I believe, to A. cinereus, and 

 not to xl. riihrirostris, with the exception of those he obtained from Ruttun 

 Singh, and which were laid by a tame goose. These two eggs were quite 

 pure white, glossless, but compact, though not very fine-grained. They 

 measured 3'55 by 2*45 inches and 3'4 by 2*25. 



