G OSE SHO TING. 1 1 7 



drachms coarse powder, and a loose charge of two and a 

 quarter ounces of double 13. This was before the days of 

 breechloaders ; but I now find that a 10-bore central-fire, 

 with five drachms of powder and an ounce and a half of 

 shot, answers the purpose well enough, though occasionally, 

 at long ranges, I sadly miss my old cannon. The Indian 

 shoots with an old Brown Bess barrel, and " nine fingers " 

 of a charge ; he sometimes kills, but suffers for it. A good 

 wild goose will weigh from ten to twelve pounds, and in 

 the fall of the year when in good condition, even as high as 

 fifteen or sixteen pounds. Their bones are much harder, 

 longer, and stronger than those of tne tame goose, and 

 their feathers are much thicker, so that they require a 

 great deal of killing. The flesh, unlike that of our 

 English wild goose, is delicious. Their food in New 

 Brunswick is a sort of seaweed, or rather grass, that grows 

 in the muddy flats in the bays and along the low flat 

 shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When first they 

 arrive in the spring they are in pretty good condition 

 At this season grains of rice and maize have been found 

 in their crops, showing that they must have flown many 

 hundreds of miles in a single night. In the spring food 

 is scarce, and they fall off in condition, but in the fall, on 

 the contrary, they improve. 



As spring advances, and the ice begins to leave the 

 shores, the sportsman must relinquish his ice house and 

 seaweed decoys, and take to his punt and floating decoys. 

 The latter are cut out of dry soft wood, and when com- 

 pletely charred over the fire, are well scraped and oiled 

 This represents the colour of the goose's back better than 

 paint. Patches of white are then put on the breasts and 

 tails of these decoys. They are weighted to float correctly 



