Wild-Geese on the Sand-hills 129 
a wounded goose, when a strange sound behind attracted his 
attention. On looking round, a fox was seen to have sprung 
upon one of the tin geese! That a fox, with his keen intuition 
and knowledge of things, should have considered it worth his 
while to stalk wild-geese (even of flesh and blood) on that naked 
expanse seems incredible. The fact remains that he did it! 
Strange indeed are the sensations evoked by that silent watch 
before day-dawn, in expectation of what truly appears incredible! 
Buried virtually in a desert of sand the fowler has nothing in 
sight beyond the dark dunes and a star-spangled sky overhead. 
WILD-GEESE ALIGHTING ON THE SAND-HILLS 
For his hide is cunningly hidden in a slight depression with a 
hanging buttress on two sides. 
Several hundred yards away, concealed under stunted pines, 
stand our horses, while the men cower round a small fire, for we 
have had a biting cold two-hours’ ride, and freezing to boot. 
Half-a-mile away on the other side —the east —begins the 
marisma, though hidden from view by the waves of rolling sand 
that intervene. 
Now a faint glint of light gleams on the tin decoys and 
foretells the coming dawn. Five more minutes elapse, and 
then . . . that low deep-toned anserine call-note, instinct with 
K 
