112 NEW BR UNS WICK. 



There is good duck shooting on the swamps, marshes, and 

 islands of the St. John river, and on its tributary, Salmon 

 river, and all along the north shore of the province a man 

 cannot go wrong for wild fowl. 



The wild goose (A Canadensis], so well known over all 

 this continent, makes its first appearance on the north 

 shore of New Brunswick in the first fortnight in Septem- 

 ber, and from this time to the 1st of November fresh 

 flocks are continually coming in. They then commence 

 to leave, and whenever the wind blows from the north and 

 east large flocks take advantage of the fair wind, and may 

 be observed flying south and west. In an early winter 

 they are all gone by the 1st of December, but I have seen 

 them passing over as late as the 15th. Thus people learn 

 from their flight whether the winter will set in late or 

 early. Winter never catches them napping; instinct 

 enables them to anticipate Jack Frost's arrival. For some 

 days before their departure they assemble in great flocks 

 on sandy islands and spits, where, according to the natives, 

 they take in sand as ballast. They are expected back 

 about the 1st of April. In Prince Edward Island they 

 are -said always to make their first appearance on Patrick's 

 Day (17th March). A welcome sight to everybody is the 

 first flock of geese, for it is also the first sign of spring. 

 Not a bright look-out for the geese though ; for, save in a 

 few bays and inlets where the tide runs strong, there is 

 nothing to be seen by the first comers but snow and ice. 

 They remain during the daytime seated on the ice in long 

 rows, with their heads tucked in, looking like so many 

 sticks or stones. At night they rise and fly to the open 

 water, tideways, &c., where they pick up some little food ; 



