BIEDS TRAINED TO PERFORM 149 



stands a pen containing perhaps fifty thoroughly 

 domesticated and tame Canada geese. The pen is 

 connected with the stand by a telephone. When 

 the gunners sight a flock of geese which will pass 

 not far away, they at once notify the pen. The 

 domesticated birds are thereupon released by a 

 man stationed there for the purpose. They take 

 wing, and, attaining a considerable height, fly 

 honking noisily to form a junction with the wild 

 flock. A garrulous greeting awa,its them, and 

 then, after paying their respects, they head 

 straight for the shooting-stand. The wild geese 

 naturally trail on behind, so that in a moment or 

 two all splash into the water within easy range of 

 the blind. 



But the manceuvers of the treacherous fifty are 

 not yet completed. They are hungry. And a 

 few yards to one side of the stand, twenty feet 

 or so back from the water-line, is the spot where 

 they are always fed. What is more, grain should 

 be lying there already scattered, waiting for their 

 crops. Without loss of time the fifty crowd ashore 

 and waddle to the grain, while the timid wild birds 

 remain behind as easy marks for the gunners. 



This sport holds a fascination for sportsmen 

 which no other form of shooting sport has ever 

 had. It is unique and spectacular. The tendency 

 is growing among its followers to consider the 

 wild geese which have been drawn into the toils 

 as secondary to the fun of operating and training 



