168 THE NATUEALIST IN NOEWAY. 



are needless, it being considered superfluous to waste 

 powder and shot when the birds may be obtained 

 without; the men, therefore, are only equipped with 

 stout sticks. When arrived at the scene of action, the 

 dogs are slipped from their couplings, and start the 

 birds, whose only means of escape is by reaching the 

 nearest water. Should they succeed in this, they com- 

 monly manage to get off; but, should they not be so 

 fortunate, the dogs soon come up with them, and by a 

 bite in the head or neck presently put them out of 

 their misery ; in the meanwhile, the sportsman with 

 his stick kills such as he falls in with. But as on 

 these occasions the birds retreat very quickly, he would 

 have much difficulty in overtaking them if he did not, 

 during the chase, proceed on the principle of never 

 running directly after, but alongside of and past them, 

 and as if not aware of their presence ; in which case 

 they, believing themselves unobserved, squat at once, 

 and conceal themselves in the grass, where they re- 

 main entirely motionless, so that one may go directly 

 up to the spot and secure them with the hand." 



Sometimes the geese turn on the dogs in their own 

 defence. " When one meets with the large geese in 

 the moulting season," says Laestatius, "and that a 

 boat be not at hand, one may drive them to the shore 

 either by casting of stones or by swimming. In the 

 year 1828, here in Karesuando, upwards of a hundred 

 wild geese were killed by several squatters in a remote 

 and sequestered lake." 



A common piece de resistance in Norway is the 

 breast of a wild goose, dried in the sun, and smoked 

 like a red-herring ; it is eaten uncooked. Smoked 

 hams and herrings, as well as salmon, are also eaten 



