METHODS OF CAPTURING WILD-FOWL IN RUSSIA. 385 



If tliey are unsuspecting and indifferent to his movements, lie ap- 

 proaches within a few yards of their whereabouts ; but if they show 

 symptoms of distrust, he is very wary in his advances. His actions 

 have, therefore, always to be regulated by the caprices of the 

 birds; and the more judgment he displays in this part of the pro- 

 ceeding, the greater are the chances of success. 



Having approached, in the disguise aforesaid, as near the geese as 

 he considers prudent, he suddenly turns round, and proceeds in a 

 contrary direction, crawling* away from the birds. His companions, 

 who station themselves at a distance, on the opposite side of the geese 

 to that taken by the fowler, narrowly watch his movements ; the 

 instant he tuz*ns round to retreat, they show themselves, and, by 

 making a noise, drive the geese forward ; the fowler, meanwhile, 

 waddling along on hands and knees, as if frightened at the noise of 

 the men, and anxious to avoid them, but, in reality, all the while 

 acting the part of a decoyer. 



The geese, apparently mistaking the fowler for one of their own 

 species, and afraid to approach the water, because of the presence of 

 the men on the opposite side, are deluded in their attempts to escape, 

 by obeying the dictates of their own nature, which is, to follow a 

 leader ; and, fancying- they see such in the disguised figure before 

 them, they follow it, when, of course, they are led directly to the net ; 

 and as soon as they have arrived within scope of its meshes, they find 

 themselves irretrievably ensnared. 



In absence of a net, the fowlers of those parts construct a hovel of 

 the skins of animals, sewed together, which they place in a convenient 

 position, near the brink of the water, or where the geese most com- 

 monly sit at night. The hovel has an inlet and outlet ; and the 

 fowler, in the disguise of a rein-deer's skin or white sheet, leads the 

 way, in a manner precisely similar to that described in regard to the 

 net ; and having waddled along under the hovel, and enticed the geese 

 to follow in his track, he does not remain inside, but emerges at the 

 outlet ; and, closing the door after him, awaits the arrival of his fol- 

 lowers. As soon as he finds them all, or a good number, within the 

 hovel, he runs round, or pulls a string- communicating with a trap- 

 door, which, on falling, instantly closes the entrance ; and thus his 

 deluded followers are confined in the hovel.* 



The numbers of geese taken in this singular manner by the fowlers 



* Vide Pennant's Arctic Zoology, vol. ii., p. 549 et seq. ; vide also History of 

 Kamtschatka, by Grieve. 



3 D 



