256 Mr. G. Barnstoa on the 



for the palate. They arrive, 1 believe, latest of all the birds of 

 the genus. 



The Snow-Goose [Anser hyperhoreus), although playing a less 

 conspicuous part in the interior of the country, where it seldom 

 alights except along the margins of the large lakes and streams, 

 and the extensive grassy lakes of the praii'ies, becomes, from its 

 consolidated numbers, the first object of sport in James's Bay. 

 The havoc amongst them is great, and even the Indian gets 

 fatigued at the trade of killing. In the fall, on some days when 

 the flocks of young " Wevois " or Wavies, as they are called, are 

 numerous and passing southwards, it is no uncommon thing for 

 a good shot to send a hundred to his lodge between sunrise and 

 sunset. In such cases he generally has two guns in his willow 

 and gi'ass stand or concealment, and his wife or son loads, while 

 he attends to the motions of the Geese, brings them round to the 

 bush or wooden decoys by calling, and fires as they pass. These 

 Geese form the staple article of food for rations at the Albany 

 Factory. They are the last to leave the coast for southern climes; 

 and this takes place generally towards the end of the month of 

 September, some weak broods and wounded birds lingering to 

 the first week of October. They are deliberate and judicious in 

 their preparations for their long flight, and make their arrange- 

 ments in a very business-like manner. They leave ofi" feeding in 

 the marshes for a day or more, keeping out with the retreating ebb 

 tide, and retiring as it were by steps, unwillingly, at its flow, ad- 

 justing their feathers continually, and dressing them with their 

 fatty oil. They are then ready for the first north or north- 

 westerly wind that blows ; and in 24 hours' time the coast that 

 had been resonant with their petulant and incessant cries, and 

 covered patchlike by their whitened squadrons, is silent and 

 deserted — a barren and frozen shore. 



The friendly intercourse that exists between these Geese and 

 the Blue Wavies (the Anser ccerulescens) has perhaps induced 

 some to suppose that they were merely varieties ; but this is a 

 mistake. The young white Wavies arrive fi'om the North with 

 their parents, without mixture of other geese in the flocks ; and 

 they have the same white garb as the old birds, but with the 

 head as if it had been soiled with rust of iron, and the bill, as is 



