THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
where no sort of natural concealment exists. Should this appear a con- 
tradiction in terms, I must leave the paradox to be solved by expert 
minds. Suffice it to say that the thing can be done ; for we have secured 
thus (on fortunate occasions) from twenty to thirty greylag geese, scaling 
nearly ten pounds apiece, during a day, and sometimes more — to three or 
four guns. This is no ordinary triumph of mind over instinct. 
(2) Awaiting the geese at certain spots to which they will regularly 
resort at certain fixed hours — though it should be specially stated that 
the said spots vary from day to day, and month to month, according 
to the season and the state of the water in the marisma — ^for three specific 
purposes. These threefold objects of the geese are as follows : At dawn 
they flight to defined areas for the purpose (a) of feeding, or (b) of re- 
plenishing the stock of sand (or grit) which every wild goose must carry 
in his gizzard for purposes of digestion; while (c) at dusk they repair 
to some point — always a broad expanse of shallow water — ^whereat they 
spend the night. 
In the first and last cases the gunner may be concealed in a sunken 
tub; but on the sand it is usually necessary to dig a hole for the purpose. 
Decoys, either fashioned in v/ood, in form of a goose, or cut out of block 
tin, and suitably painted, may be effectively employed; but should, as a 
rule, be withdrawn so soon as daylight is fully established. 
Those who are specially interested in this subject may read Chapter XI 
of “ Unexplored Spain.” The following are a few of the results achieved 
by this method. From twenty to twenty -five or even thirty greylag geese 
to one gun is not an unusual total for a single morning’s shooting, 
extending possibly over two hours; but as many as forty have excep- 
tionally been secured, while our records exhibit, on three occasions, 
the extraordinary totals of fifty -one, fifty -two, and fifty-nine geese 
bagged by a single gun (12-bore) between daybreak and, say, 9 o’clock 
in the morning. 
Other notable wildfowl resorts of the Peninsula demand at least 
passing notice — as, e.g, the estuary of the Vouga, in Portugal, that of the 
Ebro, on the Mediterranean, and several more. I will, however, confine 
the survey to but one other, and that because — differing from all those 
cited — ^it lies far away inland, over 2,000 feet above sea-level, in the midst 
of Don Quixote’s arid province of La Mancha. I refer to the Lagunas 
de Daimiel, an intricate series of lagoons and sedge -clad swamps which 
form the birth-place of the great river Guadiana, and which in winter 
410 
