GOOSE SHOOTING IN MANITOBA. 



m 



squalling the best imitation I knew. Yes, 

 he was coming, and quickly, too ! With a 

 great effort, I held myself down, and de- 

 termined not to move till he should come 

 directly over me. Honk ! Honk ! Honk ! 

 On he came, the last ending in a squall 

 right at my head; and with a flop, flop, he 

 landed in the stubble. I could feel the 

 swish of his wings. That was more than 

 I could endure, and I sprang to my feet 

 like a jack-in-the-box. Horrors! Both 

 hammers down ! Then as that thoroughly 

 terrified goose was expending all his energy 

 in putting space between himself and me, 

 with wonderful success for such a heavy 

 bird, I blazed away after him right and left. 

 The shot rattled as it cut through his tough 

 wing quills, and tore out some of his 

 feathers ; but although his legs hung, and 

 his great black feet were spread out be- 

 hind, showing how sorely he was hit, yet he 

 kept tenaciously on, though quite unable 

 to rise. I withdrew my eyes from him 

 an instant to attend to a tight shell, and 

 on looking again, lo ! he was down. 



For over an hour I searched the ground 

 in the vicinity where he fell, but all to no 

 purpose. By that time I had called myself 

 all the hard names at my disposal, and had 

 denounced the gun as a scattering old 

 blunderbuss. I then picked up my luncheon, 

 and leaving the field in possession of my 

 decoys and a large number of empty shells, 

 I went to the lake to spend the day. 



The sun soon drove away all traces of 

 the frost, and when I reached the lake it' 

 was calm and warm. The water lay like a 

 mirror and without a ripple, except the 

 track left by moving masses of geese, float- 

 ing a quarter of a mile distant; or the swish 

 of ducks as they alighted. Few of the lat- 

 ter were on the wing, but flock after flock, 

 chiefly spoonbill, dotted the water close to 

 shore, many with their heads tucked 

 under their wings, enjoying the quiet and 

 sunshine. From my seat on a boulder 

 where I lunched, I watched numbers of 

 whistlers, spoonbills and a few mallards, 

 within a few yards, some disporting them- 



selves, others asleep; but all utterly ignor- 

 ing my presence. How I wished for my 

 dog ! 



Taking a nap in the warm sunshine was 

 a natural thing; and on waking, I found a 

 coyote sitting a short distance away, en- 

 joying the scenery, though I fancy I was 

 the chief attraction. The roar of my gun 

 wakened things considerably, especially the 

 coyote. He covered a quarter of a mile at 

 a swift pace. By 3 o'clock I was back in 

 the field, waiting for more geese. In al- 

 most an hour a large flock came along, 

 making a tremendous racket ; but they de- 

 scribed a complete circle around me, then 

 left my vicinity altogether and settled on 

 some plowed ground. Soon the flight be- 

 gan in earnest, and was as heavy as in the 

 morning, but every flock took particular 

 pains to avoid my decoys and me. The 

 sun at length got low, and all hope of 

 getting a goose had vanished, for hundreds 

 of the birds were gabbling on all sides, 

 when, without even a warning call, I beheld 

 a dozen birds dropping down right before 

 me. Now or never! I rose on my knees, 

 and as the startled geese turned straight 

 upward and bunched, I fired one barrel 

 and then the other as quickly as I could 

 pull. Fully expecting to see most of them 

 come tumbling down, imagine my disgust 

 to behold them all speeding away. The 

 next moment saw me covering ground in 

 the direction of that receding flock, at a 

 pace to do credit to any sprinter; for one 

 old honker was slowly but surely coming 

 down, down, down, and at last struck 

 stubble about a fifth of a mile distant. 

 There was no escape that time, and in a 

 few minutes I was up with him. How he 

 hissed, and beat at me with the knobs on 

 his huge wings ! For a moment I felt 

 sorry for him, and thought to take and 

 keep him alive; but knowing he must be 

 sorely wounded, 1 resolved that death was 

 more humane, so he was "numbered with 

 the slain." With a heavy game bag, but a 

 light heart, I reached home shortly after 

 dark. * 



First Specialist : Was the operation a 

 success? 



Second Specialist : Yes. The patient 

 died solvent. — Life. 



