APPENDIX. 515 



formed flock is seen from afar, man, woman, and child 

 rush out, shouting " wook, wook, wook," at the 

 pitch of their voices. The silly birds respond to the 

 call ; and, wheeling round the place, generally lose one 

 or two of their number. More are culled from each 

 flock by the skilful Indian hunter, who, concealed from 

 their view among the long grass or thick brush-wood, 

 is able to call the geese to him from a great distance. 

 The first birds he procures are set up on the beach as 

 stales to entice others to alight ; and the ordinary rate 

 of his success may be judged by the price which a 

 goose bears ; namely, a single charge of ammunition, 

 the chance of killing several at a shot more than 

 compensating for failures. The geese fly high when 

 over the land, but descend on approaching the water, 

 and cross the larger lakes mostly at particular places. 

 It is singular to see how flock after flock passes 

 between the same islands, or through the same gap in 

 the woods, each following as nearly as possible the 

 track of its predecessor. At some of the posts great 

 quantities of geese are salted for winter use ; but this 

 method of preserving them is a very bad one, a salted 

 goose being both dry and tough. 



Laughing Goose. (Atiser albifrcms.) F. B. A. 2. 



p. 466. 



This is a smaller goose than the preceding; and, in 

 the comparative length of the neck and form of the bill, 

 it more nearly resembles our domestic goose, or its wild 

 original. The laughing goose travels in great flocks 

 through the fur countries, eight or ten days later than 

 the first appearance of the Canada goose, and breeds 

 on the coasts and islands of the Arctic Sea, north of the 



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