82 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



shore, and fired both barrels just as they arose from the 

 surface of the water. Up they all went soaring round in a 

 great circle, and in a wedge-shaped form, not one of them 

 showing the least sign of being wounded, though my gun 

 was charged with double B shot. I watched them, with 

 no slight vexation, ascend to an enormous height till they 

 looked scarcely bigger than starlings, when suddenly one 

 dropped as straight as a plummet. The seemingly slow 

 fall of that bird was really a beautiful sight, and filled my 

 soul with joy. I saw it strike the ground, and rebound 

 amidst a cloud of loose feathers, a good half-mile away. 



It proved to be a truly magnificent bird, sixty-five 

 inches in length ; and, I feel sure, was larger than any 

 tame swan I have ever seen. It was an American 

 trumpeter swan, Cy/niis buccinator ; and was not much 

 disfigured by its tremendous fall, which could not have 

 been much less than a mile. All my efforts on this, and 

 a subsequent day, to obtain a second specimen were 

 fruitless. 



Nor did I have much better success with the geese. 

 These cunning birds were as unapproachable as the 

 swans ; and it was not until I had recourse to the assist- 

 ance of my Indian friends that I succeeded in obtaining 

 a shot at them. Lying hid among the rushes, Tom so 

 cleverly imitated the cry of these birds that a flock of about 

 twenty was allured to within gun-shot, and I gave them 

 a right and a left. With the first barrel I killed my 

 bird, but in the second case the goose was only wounded, 

 and led my Indian friend a fine chase over the prairie 

 before it could be secured. It made repeated and most 

 adroit efforts to get to the water, and it required all 

 Tom's nimbleness to prevent it effecting its purpose. 

 Once there it would no doubt have swum out to the 

 reeds and effectually have hid itself. This trick of 

 imitating the cry is very common among Indian hunters ; 

 and some whites learn it sufficiently well to deceive the 

 birds. Not only geese, but many other birds, and also 



