390 



WILD SPAIN. 



not twenty yards off, and two of the three fell stone-dead. 

 I breathed more freely now ; and let the geese come in to a 

 range that for any other fowl would be too near, holding even 

 then well forward, and sundry heavy thuds on the darken- 

 ing waters attested the success of these waiting tactics, and 

 registered the death of another greylag or bean-goose. 

 These latter came in singly, or in twos and threes, and 

 are distinguishable by their harsher note and rather 

 smaller size ; the greylags average eight pounds, some 

 old ganders turning the scale at ten. Every minute it 

 became more difficult to see ; night was closing in apace, 



but with it came more and more geese. The rattle of gun- 

 shots and rustling of strong pinions was incessant — hardly 

 had one gone down than another flight swept in. At last 

 the geese came silently ; the call-note which during day- 

 light announced their approach was now no longer uttered, 

 and they drifted so fast on to the water that one only 

 became aware of their arrival by the heavy ploughing 

 splash as they alighted. Presently only those that came 

 low against the dying after-glow in the west could be seen 

 at all, and after a shot one had to listen for the splash 

 that bespoke a kill. Gunshots now became fewer, a mere 



