360 



THE WILD GOOSE. 



dible of the bill is scarlet, and the lower one whitish. The general 

 color of the plumage is white ; except the first ten quills of the wings, 

 •which are black with white shafts. The young birds are of a blue 

 color, till they are a year old. The legs are red. 



Snow Geese are very numerous about Hudson's Bay ; where they 

 are migratory, going further northward to breed. They are also 

 found in several of the northern parts of the Old Continent. 



These birds have so little of the shyness of other Geese, that, about 

 Jakut, and the other parts cf Siberia which 

 they frequent, they are caught in the most 

 ridiculous manner imaginable. The inhabi- 

 tants place near the banks of the rivers a great 

 net in a straight line ; or else form a hovel of 

 skins sewed together. This done, one of the 

 company dresses himself in the skin of a white 

 rein-deer, advances towards the flock of Geese, 

 and then turns back towards the net or hovel ; 

 and his companions go behind the flock, and, 

 by making a noise, drive them forward. The 

 8N0W ooosE simple birds mistake the man in white for their 



leader and follow him within reach of the net ; which is suddenly 

 pulled down, and thus captures the whole. When he chooses to con- 

 duct them even into the hovel, they follow in a similar manner; he 

 creeps in at a hole left for that purpose, and out at another on the 

 opposite side, which he closes up. The Geese follow him through the 

 first ; and as soon as they are in, he passes around and secures every 

 one of them. In that frozen climate the Snow Geese afford an essential 

 means of subsistence to the natives ; and their feathers are an article 

 of commerce. Each family kill thousands in a season; and, after 

 plucking and gutting them, they fling them in heaps, into holes 

 dug for that purpose, and covered only with earth. The mould freezes 

 and forms over them an arch ; and whenever the family have occasion 

 to open one of these magazines, they find their provisions perfectly 

 »weet and good. 



THE WILD GOOSE. 



These birds are often seen in flocks of from fifty to a hundred, 

 flying at very great heights, and seldom 

 resting by day. Their cry is frequently 

 heard while, from their distance above, they 

 are imperceptible to the sight. Whether 

 this be their note of mutual encouragement, 

 or only the necessary consequence of respira- 

 tion, seems doubtful ; but they seldom exert 

 it when they alight in their journeys. On 

 the ground they always arrange themselves 

 in a line, and seem to descend rather for rest 

 than refreshment, for having continued 



