220 BULLETIN L30, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



heavy birds in a wed<je-sliaped phalanx is seen approaching, with 

 apparently labored flight. The well-knoAvn challenge note of the 

 leader, repeated along the line of his followers, arouses the decoys 

 to answering notes of invitation to alight. The flock wheels and 

 swings in to the decoys, anxiously scanning the surroundings for any 

 suspicious object. Seeing nothing to alarm them, they all set their 

 wings and scale down to join their fellows. This is the sportman's 

 opportunity for a flight shot; the pothunter would prefer to wait 

 until they had all alighted and gathered in a dense bunch near the 

 decoj^s. But in either case the birds have a better chance than in 

 front of a concealed battery of heavy guns. 



Goose shooting on the western grain fields is perhaps the most 

 sportsmanlike method, as it is practically all wing shooting. The 

 birds frequent the grain llelds in large numbers to feed on the tender 

 shoots of grooving grain in the spring or on the stubble and fallen 

 grain in the autumn. They are very regular in their feeding habits, 

 flying in to the fields from their roosting grounds on the lakes and 

 sloughs about daylight and feeding for a few hours after sunrise; 

 they rest during the middle of the day and come in again to feed foi 

 a few hours before sunset. Gunners take advantage of these regular 

 habits to shoot them on their lines of flight. A hole is dug in the 

 ground deep enough to conceal the gunner entirely, and the decoys, 

 usually wooden ones, are set out around it. Or a convenient and 

 eft'ective blind is made by hollowing out the center of a corn shock. 

 Tvith which the geese are already familiar. Concealed in such a blind 

 before daylight, the hunter is well prepared for some excellent shoot- 

 ing when the flight begins, especially if he is an expert in calling 

 the birds by imitating their notes. It must be exciting sport to shoot 

 these large birds fl3'ing over and often within easy range. 



I suppose that the Canada goose has been more persistently 

 hunted, over a wider range of country and for a longer period of 

 years, than any other American game bird, for in the earlier days, 

 when all game was so abundant, only the largest species were con- 

 sidered worth the trouble. In spite of this fact it has shown its 

 ability to hold its own and is even increasing in numbers in many 

 places to-day. Messrs. Kumlien and Hollister (1903) report it in 

 Wisconsin as — - 



abundant, increasing ratlier tlian diminishing in numbers during tlie fall, 

 winter, and spring. To such an extent has this species changed its habits 

 that it is no longer looked upon as a sure harbinger of spring, as in most sec- 

 tions of southern and even south-central Wisconsin it remains all winter, 

 flying back and forth from its favorite cornfields to some lake or large marsh 

 lor the night. When snov/ is plenty it even remains in tlie fields for days at a 

 time. Twenty-five to fifty years ago the flocks which first made their appear- 

 ance were noted by everyone, and spring was not far distant. Now, the flocks 



