THE GOOSING 221 
it, using the Russian word for a stick. But it was a 
very formidable stick. About two feet long, it was 
shaped like a policeman’s truncheon, only nails or bits 
of iron were driven through it all round. Uano soon 
let me see its object. Foran old grey goose, who had 
somehow reached our island unperceived, now appeared 
in front, with head straight out and carried low down, 
running wonderfully fast among the grasses. Pre- 
sently it squatted; and then the Samoyed crept up 
on tiptoe. I followed. The goose never moved till 
the man was ten yards off—I saw it squatting there 
with its head on the ground and its neck stretched out 
to its full extent—and then it rose and ran. At the 
same time Uano hurled the * parlka,’ and with such effect 
that the bird was knocked out of time altogether. It 
was all but dead when we picked it up—a male bean 
goose, which had just lost its long wing-feathers. 
It is well to explain that all the grey geese belonged 
to one of two species. Either they were bean—the 
commoner goose on Kolguev—or else white-fronted 
geese. The pink-footed goose is not found there. 
Away behind us on the island was the trap. I must 
describe this particularly. At the water's edge, thirty 
yards apart, two poles were fixed, to which a net was 
fastened. The net was then carried inland, the two 
walls converging until, at a point some forty yards 
from the entrance, they were not more than five yards 
apart. From this point they bellied out and formed 
