66 



WATER FOWL. 



is wonderful how skillful wounded Geese are in getting 

 away, and how difficult it is to see one skulking at any 

 distance upon the water if it is at all rough. They can 

 dive and go quite a little distance under the surface, and 

 they avail themselves of all the artifices at their command, 

 to escape capture. If a wounded bird succeeds in gain- 

 ing the marsh or an extensive bed of reeds, nothing but a 

 good retriever is able to capture it. 



Sometimes when a flock has settled before the decoys 

 and is swimming toward them, and the sportsman is get- 

 ting ready to fire, a Honk is heard above, and another 

 flock comes sailing in to join the others, thus necessitat- 

 ing a cessation of hostility for the time being. I remem- 

 ber on one occasion when, as I was about to fire at a 

 number of Geese before me, I was stopped by hearing the 

 call of an old gander as he led his company up to my 

 blind, and he was succeeded by flock after flock arriving 

 in succession in the same way, keeping me in a con- 

 strained, uncomfortable position, for I did not dare to 

 move, the birds being both over and around me, until at 

 least one hundred Geese were gathered in front of my 

 position. It is such occasions that try the nerve of a 

 sportsman, and compel him to exert himself and control 

 his natural impulse to shoot at the many birds in close 

 proximity, and patiently wait for the more favorable 

 chance upon the water. The flight of the Wild Goose, 

 though apparently labored, is really not so. and the bird 

 moves at a rapid speed, and is able to protract it for a 

 considerable length of time. The beat of the wings is 

 steady and performed with great regularity, and their 

 wide expanse is one of the causes of the fine appearance 

 of the birds when sailing up to the decoys. 



The Wild Goose is easily domesticated, and will breed 

 in confinement, and often is as contented in captivity as 



