biu:nt goose. 
2 
the wind had dropped and the sea fallen, a long swell still rolled slowly in from the west. Suddenly a black 
line of fowl was sighted through the haze a short distance to the south of our course, and under the 
impression, at the first glance, that the birds were Scoters *, the head of the boat was turned in order 
to inspect their ranks f. It Avas not till wg were within twenty yards that a single head was raised and the 
species ascertained. After paddling a yard or two, the Arhole body got on wing ; so slow, however, were their 
movements, that ample time was given to make use effectively of each of the four barrels of two heavy 
10-bores. Considering the weather to which they had been lately exposed, it was somcAA'liat strange that the 
six birds secured Avere in fairly good condition — in fact above the average Aveight. 
A green Aveed or grass, Zostem marina (slimy in texture and almost transparent), that flourishes only on 
the saltAvater mud-banks, is the principal food of this species ; small quantities of other marine vegetation 
are also consumed. Although a few Brent Geese have come under my observation on the broads of the 
eastern counties and on other pieces of inland Avater, I am of opinion that it is seldom, unless Avounded, 
these birds quit salt AA^ater. According to the accounts of several of the gunners in the neighbourhood of 
Ilickling, a large body of over one hundred of these Geese settled on the broad under the shelter of one of 
the hills during a heavy snoAV-storm some ten or a dozen years ago. One of the men AAmrked his punt 
A\ ithin range , but OAA ing to the effects of the suoaa’’, it AA'as impossible to discharge the gun, and in the end 
the birds escaped unmolested. In Pevensey Level, during severe winters, Avhen large flocks had been noticed 
in the Channel, I have knoAvn one or two taken in traps set for Snipe or Teal in the open drains or grips — 
indicating that a fcAV at least occasionally resorted to the marshes in that district in quest of food. 
Numberless pages have been Avritten by A^arious authors describing the means and appliances by 
Avhicli the cunning of this Avily species is supposed to be successfully baffled ; the times and seasons most 
faAmurable for the prosecution of this somewhat uncertain pastime have also been fully given. More 
anxious, as a rule, to gain an insight into the manners and customs of foAvl than to cause unnecessary slaughter, 
I am unable to record any shots Avorthy of notice that have fallen to my share. Large numbers of Brents 
have frequently been killed at one discharge, from forty to fifty, and CAmn more, being occasionally picked 
up. The heaviest bag (avcII authenticated) that has come to my knowledge AA^as obtained about the firths on 
the eastern coasts of Uoss and Cromarty, some years ago, before big guns had become so plentiful, eighteen 
hundred Geese having been secured by a sportsman shooting in a double-handed punt in the space of six weeks. 
Geese, I learned from an old punt-gunner, Avere the sole objects of this fowler’s ambition ; on one occasion, 
having stopped at least thirty or forty Dun-birds accidentally in the dark, my informant declared that, on 
discovering the error, this eccentric individual allowed not a foAvl to be recovered, leaving the result of the 
shot to the mercy of the tide. 
In addition to the larger firths on the north-east coast of the Highlands, there Avere a fcAV small muddy 
harbours and estuaries to Avhich Geese made their Avay Avhen driven from more attractive feeding-grounds. 
The Little Perry near Golspie, owing to the absence of local gunners, usually afforded a safe resting- 
place to parties numbering from fifty to one hundred birds, and here I occasionally met Avith first-rate sport. 
While dropping down the Dornoch Pirtli Avith the ebb-tide in a small single punt early one foggy morning, 
in the autumn of 1869, to ascertain if any Geese were harbouring near the bar, I passed several fishing-craft 
from Banf and Buckie, making for the Tain Sands to procure cargoes of mussels J. Pulling up alongside 
* The Geese happened to be right over a bank often resorted to as a feeding-ground by both Common and A'elvet Scoters. 
t It is seldom in this part of the Channel, so exposed to south-west breezes, that a gunning-punt can be launched with hopes of success. For 
shooting- and collecting-purposes I usually went afloat in a boat of about sixteen feet in length, built for sailing or rowing fairly well when pulled 
by a couple of sturdy oarsmen. To deaden all sound the oars were muffled by sheep-skin, and the light-painted craft gliding quietly through the 
water, Divers, Grebes, and even fowl were often approached within range. 
+ Mussels used to be farmed on the Tain shore of the Dornoch Firth, large beds or “ scarps ” having been laid down. There was, in those days, 
a great demand for bait for the long-line haddock fishery, and numbers of boats from the east coast entered the firth for cargoes. 
