oj the HudsoTi's Bay Territories, 339 



large grey or Canada goose, (Bernicla Canadensis,) is listened to 

 ■with a rapture known only to those who have endured great pri- 

 vations, and gnawing hunger. The melancholy visages brighten, 

 and the tents are filled with hope, to which joy soon succeeds, as 

 the happy father, or hopeful son and brother, returning successful 

 from the hunt, throws down with satisfaction and pride the grate- 

 ful load. 



The Bernicla Canadensis here alluded to is the largest of our 

 geese, and is almost always first seen in the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's Territories. It may be only a single straggler which has lost 

 its mate, or at most five or six together. These are the advanced 

 guard of the serried legions of other water-fowl, which nature and 

 instinct send forth every spring from the south, to occupy dur- 

 ing the productive summer, the land of the north, and to partake 

 of the plentiful and luscious repasts that Providence has, during 

 their absence, been storing up for them, in a hidden, yet nascent 

 state. 



The Canada grey goose, as if aware of the general favor in 

 which it is held, spreads itself diffusively over the whole continent. 

 Its disposition has less of wildness in it than that of the snow 

 goose. We come upon it hatching in quiet recesses and corners, 

 surrounded by reedy waters, where " rushes and grasses do most 

 abound." It is at home over the whole wooded portion of the 

 country, equally so in the extensive marshes of the sea coast, and 

 on the mossy barrens of the Chipewyan and Esquimaux lands. 

 Paring the winter, like other species, it takes refuge in the more 

 temperate portions of the country, courting always open water. I 

 have seen a flock in the strong open current of the St. Lawrence, 

 above Lachine, near Montreal, in the month of January or Feb- 

 ruary, but such an occurrence is rare. In this latitude, say 45° 

 west of the Rocky Mountains, but especially on the coast of the 

 Pacific, they are plentiful during the whole winter, in mild seasons. 

 Before Oregon was settled by the Americans, the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's post of Fort Vancouver used to be supplied by Indian 

 hunters with grey geese, large and small, as well as with occasional 

 swans and white geese ; and this at times so liberally, that a day's 

 rations twice a week could be furnished to an establishment of 30 

 to 40 men. Some of these geese had been killed by the bow 

 and arrow. This game formed our best rations, but it was 

 seldom in such condition as it is to be had in the north, after 

 it has enjoyed a week or two on the feeding grounds. I have no 



