320 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



direct to tlie field, but instead of swinging into my decoys, 

 as expected, made one or two circles at a safe distance, 

 and, with that irregular, snipe-like pitch peculiar to them, 

 dropped down in the corner of the stubble, 150 yards 

 away. Presently there came another flock, and with 

 much the same maneuvering they joined their fellows. 

 Had I had a little more experience with geese, I would 

 have at once arisen from my blind and frightened them 

 away, for as decoys they held over my insignificant dozen 

 most disastrously to me. While mentally trying to 

 decide how I would get a shot at the snowy mass of birds 

 at the end of the field, flock after flock came in and 

 joined the first arrivals, until it seemed to me that every 

 white goose in the West was sitting there before my 

 eyes, and, for all the execution I could, do among them, 

 they might as well have been on top of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains. From where I lay, there appeared to be 1,000,000 

 of them — there were probably close to 1,000 of them — . 

 and the sight they made in the bright morning sun will 

 never be forgotten. I tried to crawl within shooting dis- 

 tance, but the first move started them, and my two loads 

 of No. I's sped harmlessly after them. 



My experience is, that the white-fronted goose, or 

 "speckled belly," as they are termed in the West, is 

 the wildest variety in the family. Unless found in 

 abundance, the hunter will have unsatisfactory sport 

 hunting them exclusively. They decoy as readily— if the 

 term "readily" may be used— to Canada geese decoj-s 

 as to those of their own kind. The fact of the matter 

 is, they are very hard birds to decoy. They seem to be 

 of an unsociable nature, and pass over or by one' s decoys 

 —may be to alight less than 200 yards away— with the 

 most provoking indifference. Their feeding-habits are 

 identically the same as the Canadas. When their roost- 

 ing-places and feeding-grounds lie near together, they fly 



