GEESE. 7 



the chances are with the geese. I had a successful stalk 

 once of more than a mile, being favoured by a conveniently 

 placed grave-mound. On the Tsungming Island, a paradise 

 sometimes for wild-fowl, there are embankments and cutt- 

 ings which are on occasion of great assistance to the gun- 

 ner. But at other times it is tantalizing to the last degree 

 to see thousands of geese, ducks, and sometimes swans 

 within reach of the binocular without a chance of getting 

 near any of them. Then comes the temptation to use a rifle 

 which is so strongly and rightly condemned by Mr. Glass. 

 Indeed, a time comes to all sportsmen — when the blood has. 

 had time to cool, and the innate hunting instinct has lost its 

 pristine keenness — when there is a new delight in the sport- 

 ing trip, the delight of seeing, of merely looking at nature in 

 her brightest and her best. The flats down by the Beacon 

 sometimes provide a sight for such a man which quite makes 

 up for the loss of opportunity for mere killing. A good glass 

 brings birds within a few yards, and then from the sunny 

 side of an embankment they may be watched at rest and at 

 play — a sight Vv^orth the journey even if the bag remains 

 absolutely empty. But that same beautiful day may be the 

 prelude to a blow, and then will come the chance inland, 

 perhaps. Rough water outside means opportunities along 

 the creeks, and a right and left well brought off under 

 those conditions is far more satisfying to the artistic sense 

 than the holocaust of an entire gaggle with the punt gun. 



Of all sportsmen it is the wild-fowler who must be most 

 saturated witlj knowledge of times and seasons, of tides and 

 winds, of feeding grounds and of resting places. Geese act 

 with great regularity in most of their movements. If left 

 alone they feed by day, and only if persecuted take to the 

 night for safety. It is this regularity which is their ruin if 

 the fowler is acute enough to discover its variations and 

 act accordingly. Day by day he needs to study their move- 

 ments. He watches their stately flight, a thing unique in 

 nature for majesty of movement, and unexpected grace. He 

 notes their line to and fro, then, some boisterious evening 

 perhaps, he reaps his reward in the finest flight shooting 

 that ever delighted man. I knew of one once who happened 

 more or less by accident to light upon a spot over which 

 dusk found gaggle after gaggle passing. So he thanked the 

 gods and accepted the opportunity. Standing on the bow 

 of his boat well under cover of a bank, he had a succession 

 of good sporting chances of which he made the most. One 

 bird happened to come rather lower than the other and as 

 it was travelling fast and the well placed charge did its 

 work with merciful promptitude, the way of the bird to earth 

 was marked by a trajectory which evidently would bring it 



