200 FIELD SHOOTING. 



wander off and are shot as wild geese. A cross 

 of the Canada goose no doubt improves the do- 

 mestic goose in beauty and flavor, if not in size, 

 and it is easy to procure it by means of wound- 

 ed ganders, pinioned and turned down with the 

 tame geese. 



The Canada goose is not so abundant in Illinois 

 in the migratory seasons as it used to be. When 

 I first settled in that State, there were vast flocks 

 of these geese all over the country in the spring 

 and late in the fall. In the daytime they were 

 mostly in the sloughs and bottoms, and there they 

 roosted at night, but they came out mornings and 

 evenings to feed. They are very fond of corn, and 

 consume large quantities of it. The reason why 

 they are now less abundant in Illinois is the thicker 

 settlement of the country. The main column 

 of the Canada geese now take a more westerly 

 route towards the south, crossing Minnesota, Kan- 

 sas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the country up the Mis- 

 souri River. But there are a great many in Illi- 

 nois still at the right times of the year. The 

 Canada goose comes earliest of all the great 

 tribes which migrate from the south in the spring, 

 and, considering that most of them have to fly 

 over a space covering more than fifty degrees of 



