when hard pressed fairly well, though they cannot keep long
under water ; but neither in walking nor swimming (though in
both less awkward, for they are less paunchy birds than the
domestic Goose) do they show to any great advantage.
When moving any considerable distance they fly high and
usually in a single line, or in a V, with the point foremost ; but
when merely changing ground, they often fly in an irregular
flock.
They are met with in parties of all sizes, from a single pair
to more than a thousand, but flocks of from thirty to a
hundred are most commonly seen in Upper India. All our
Geese prefer rivers to tanks and lakes, but of all the species
the Grey Lag is least rarely seen about these latter.
Gccse, Crane, and Mallard, shy and wild as they are as a
rule inland, arc easily killed on all our larger rivers. During
the hotter parts of the day they are, as already mentioned,
generally found in larger or smaller parties, dozing in the
sun, on some sandbank, at the water's edge, or, in the case
of the Cranes, standing asleep in the water near some such
bank. Directly such a party is sighted, you take a small boat,
and with the aid of a couple of experienced men, row or punt
noiselessly down to within two or three hundred yards of
the birds, when, if the water intervening is shallow enough
to allow it, (and the boatmen seem to know this by instinct)
one man gets quietly out of the boat behind, and while
you and your companion in the boat lie down out of sight,
he, stooping so as to be entirely concealed by the boat,
pushes it down gently and noiselessly, aided by the stream,
towards the flock. In this way you may approach, if all is
well managed, to within twenty yards of even Cranes. You make
some arrangement at the bows, (I had a false gunwale screwed
on with suitable holes pierced in it,) so as to admit of peeping
and shooting, without raising your head into view, and when
you get to what you consider the right distance, knock over
as many you can sitting, with the first shot, and as many more
as you have time for, before they get out of shot, after they
rise. Everything depends on judging rightly the distance for
the first shot, with reference to your bore and charge. A
little too far, you wound a score, without perhaps bagging one ;
a little too near, and you kill one or two outright, and though
you perhaps get two or three more as they rise, that is all ;
but if you use a good heavy duck gun, say No. 8 bore, with
two ounces of A. A., and fire at about fifty yards, you will rarely
get less than eight out of a good large flock of Geese (and
I have got as many as sixteen) with the first shot, besides a
brace or so more, with green cartridge, as they rise.
In England, where the Wild Geese are so wary, it seems odd
enough that these birds should have been selected as types
of stupidity; but here when thus worked they are the tamest of
all Water Fowl, and allow a boat to drift almost on to them before
they move. When still about a hundred yards off, the flock is
seen to be grouped in a dense mass ; fully half are asleep, a few
are standing at the water's edge drinking slowly, raising
the head at each gulp, and the rest are standing gazing
listlessly about ; as the boat approaches, a general low cackling
takes place, a good many of the sleepers get up and begin
to look about, and a few of those already on their legs begin
to waddle away from the water's edge. As you approach
nearer, all begin to walk slowly away, and, as a rule, if you
persist in coming within twenty yards, and coming on quicker
than they can walk, they rise and fly; or if you stand up in
the boat or make any sudden noise, they will equally take
the wing; but if you drift quietly down on them, they will let
you come within twenty or thirty yards without quitting the
bank. The first gun fired, the din that rises from a flock
of 300 or 400 (and I have carefully counted and estimated,
glass in hand, flocks containing fully treble the latter number,)
is incredible ; their cries, mingled with the flappings of their
wings, render it impossible to make one's-self heard for a
brief space until they get well on the wing. Then they will
circle round and round over head whilst the dead are being
picked up, and the winged, which always take the water, swim
well, and dive fairly, are being hunted down, uttering the
most clamorous cries, and not unfrequently returning within
shot.
A tremendous chase a slightly wounded bird will often lead
you—your boat, a rough native affair, square or nearly so at both
ends, and propelled by two crazy paddles, which are always
giving way some where, whenever you want the rowers to give
way. If the bird heads up stream and you have the wind
against you also, you may have to give the chase up for the
time, but later in the afternoon, when the wind has dropped,
as it almost always does in the cold weather towards evening,
you are sure to find your friend sitting somewhere solitary
a mile or so up-stream by the water's edge, unless he has been
made away with en-rotite by some Crocodile or Eagle. Once,
and once only, I saw a " Mugger," or snub-nosed Crocodile,
engulf a wounded Goose in its huge jaws and disappear ; but
both Bonelli's Eagle and the Ring-tailed Fishing Eagle (Haliaetus
leucoryphus) constantly carry off wounded birds even of this
large species. The Ring-Tail is by far the most troublesome in
this repect. If anywhere he spy a wounded Goose, or other
water bird, he is down on him, or after him, in a moment. The
bird, even if only slightly wounded, and flying more or less well
when the Eagle takes up the chase, drops at once into the water.
Down swoops the Eagle, its long legs extended to the utmost,
and just as his claws are within a yard of the victim's head,
down dives the Goose, only to rise when its pursuer has swept