PUCK  Anon his Thisbe must be answered,

And forth my minic comes. When they him spy,

As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,

Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort

Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,

Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,

So at his sight away his fellows fly;

And at our stamp, here o’er and o’er one falls,

He ‘Murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls.       (3.2.18-26)

Puck continues, and here it’s less the description of Bottom that concerns him—cleverly he’s not going into specifics about the transformation, because at the point of writing, who knows what the ass’s head might look like?—than its effect on the other members of the acting troupe. Anon his Thisbe must be answered,—thinking back to poor Flute, speaking all his part at once, cues and all, waiting for Pyramus to reappear—and forth my minic comes. Textual crux alert! The Folio text has mimmick, mimic, just emerging as a word for an actor, but the earlier gives minnick, like little fellow, wee mincing creature, abbreviating minikin. Not entirely convinced? But it’s not complimentary towards Bottom, unsurprisingly. He was already making an ass of himself.

When they him spy, it’s just CHAOS, and Puck has this wonderful simile of birds taking flight in fright, noisy and chaotic, flapping and wheeling: as wild geese that the creeping fowler eye—they spot the hunter creeping up on them, honk honk honk! flap flap flap!—or russet-pated choughs, grey-headed jackdaws (but russet is also a fairly generic term for coarse, undyed woollen cloth, and chough sounds like chuff, so it could as readily be woolly-headed bumpkins)—and those birds too, many in sort, a whole flock of them, rising and cawing at the gun’s report, sever themselves and madly sweep the sky: rather than flying in an orderly mass, they separate and go every which way. Puck’s long, noisy sentence gives the effect, fast, furious flapping, swooping and whooping… So at his sight away his fellows fly. Just like that. One look at him and they’re off, running in every direction, terrified out of their wits. And at our stamp—the suggestion is perhaps that Puck has added to the chaos by stamping at them? frightening one in particular? (poor Flute, poor Snout)—here o’er and o’er one falls, oh yes, he took a tumble, tripping over his own feet, he ‘murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls. They didn’t know what had hit them, as they ran away. Ha!

It’s a bit cruel, but it’s amazingly evocative, (re)creating chaos in the mind’s eye of the audience, who after all were mostly looking at Bottom as his companions ran for their lives.