194 
THE UNFORTUNATE SHOT. 
■with US. Macgillivray was informed that it did so in the 
outer Hebrides; but, although he sought for them, wasim- 
able to find a nest or unfledged young. * In early autumn,' 
he says, ' when the barley begins to ripen, flocks of these 
birds commit great havoc among it in unfrequented places, 
often at night, but mostly at early dawn. It is almost im- 
qossible to approach them while thus feeding, however irre- 
gular the ground may be, as they see at night much better 
than their enemy.' He relates that a man in Harris, 
hearing the Geese on the marsh close to his house, went out 
in the dark, and, having shot across a narrow creek where 
he conceived them to be, returned. In the dawn, when he 
went to pick up the Geese, he found dead on the opposite 
bank his own horse, which had been reposing there. He 
further describes them as sitting lightly on the water, float- 
ing beautifully with their heads to the wind, like a fleet of 
merchantmen ; swimming with good speed, but rising 
heavily, striking the water with their large wings, vv^hich, 
when rising from the ground, they spread out and flap, 
running forward some paces. They feed chiefly by night, 
unless in remote places, on the soft pasture grass, and long 
juicy stems of aquatic plants. They have a heavy and 
rather slow flight, the birds disposing themselves in lines — 
now straight, now angular or waving, when they are pro- 
ceeding to a distance. Their loud cries, rather harsh and 
grating when heard at hand, are pleasant to the ear when 
coming from a distance, especially in the stillness of the 
night. Partridge, in ' Our Enghsh Months,' well describes 
these birds and their congeners, which may be heard when 
the gloom of a November night has closed in around us ; 
then-— 
In the quiet midnight, high in air, 
The screaming ^Yikl-geese, in a wedge-like cloud, 
With intermittent and discordant cries 
Startle the sleeping hamlet. Bound the coast 
The various wild-fowl pour in countless flocks 
Prom Northern skies. Up the small sinuous creeksJ 
And inlets of the sea, they still ascend, 
In search of fish-spawn, on the reedy shores, 
Their sad wail blending with the moaning sea. 
Of race distinct^ the various wandering tribes 
