LIFE PIISTORTES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 235 



Alons with other geese, this species used to do much damage to young wheat 

 in Colusa, Butte, Sutter, and Uha Counties. But the ranks of the birds are 

 so thinned at the present time that the injury they inflict now is negligible. 



On the market this species is usually classified along with the Hutchins 

 goose as " brant." ^'ery large numbers of cackling geese are to be found at 

 times in the markets of our larger cities. The cackling goose, once .iust as 

 numerous, if not more so, than the Hutchins goose, is, like the Hutchins, 

 rapidly decreasing in numbers from year to year. Old residents in some parts 

 of the Sacramento Valley say that now there is "not more than one of these 

 geese present wliere formerly there were hundreds." To the work of tlie 

 market hunter can be attributed much of this decrease, for this goose is one 

 wliich is easily procured and which finds a ready sale on the market. While 

 still rated as common in restricted portions of the State, this goose is in a fair 

 ■way to disappear completely unless enough of the birds are left each winter to 

 guarantee the return of an adequate stock in the spring to the breeding grounds 

 in the north. 



Game. — The primitive hunters of the Aleutian Ishmds formerly 

 killed laroe numbers of these geese by catchino- them in long nets set 

 on the edges of ponds, where they fed. Some of the natives were 

 also quite expert at throwing at the passing flocks a bolas made of 

 three stones attached to leather thongs, which became entangled with 

 the necks and wings of the birds, bringing sometimes two and even 

 three birds down to the ground. The birds were salted away for 

 future use during the winter and must have served as an important 

 addition to the food supply of the natives. 



Mr. Turner (1886) describes the more modern method of shooting 

 geese on Attn Island as follows : 



The manner of shooting geese at Attn Island is different fi*om that pursued 

 in other localities. In the evening the geese repair to the shallov/ pools to 

 preen their feathers and be secure from the attacks of foxes. These resorts 

 leave unmistakable signs of the presence of geese of preceding nights. The 

 native wanders over the hills until he finds a lake wlun-e " signs " are abundant. 

 A hut is generally to be found near the favorite night haunts of the geese. To 

 this one journeys in a canoe, and on arriving the vlnjnik (teakettle) is hung 

 on the soon-kindled fire to boil, as the clii/pcct (tea drinking) is a certain con- 

 comitant of all Alaskan jaunts, either of pleasui-e or of profit. The chypeet 

 over, the approach of dusk is awaited. The hunters then seek the chosen 

 ponds and secrete themselves in a gully or on the hillside near the place to 

 watch the gee.se as tlu-y come in for the evening, for during the day the geese 

 have been feeding on the smooth, sloping hillsides. 



Tlie hunter is careful to approach these lakes lest he leave a footprint or 

 other sign of his presence, as the goose is ever on the alert for such traces and 

 forsakes any lake that is suspected. They will in such cases liover round and 

 round endeavoring to discover the danger, and when .satisfied that the lak(> 

 has been visited by man or that he is present their loud cries give warning to 

 all the geese within hearing as they quickly stream off and away to the head 

 of the ravine from which they came. After such an occurrence the hunter 

 would just as well go home or seek some other locality, for no more geese will 

 visit that lake until the next night. 



