WE SEE SNOW-GEESE. 83 



We have since found the frozen bodies of whole 

 co vies, which had gone to roost in a circle and been 

 buried under such a heavy fall of snow that the 

 birds could not force their way upward. Their habit 

 is to remain in imprisonment, apparently waiting for 

 the snow to melt before even making an effort for 

 deliverance. Oftentimes it is then too late, a crust 

 having formed above. A severe winter will some- 

 times completely exterminate the birds in certain lo- 

 calities. 



During this first day of quail-shooting, we also saw 

 for the first time flocks of the snow-2*oose. The Pro- 

 fessor counted fifty birds on one sand bar. This 

 variety, in its flight across the continent, apparently 

 passes through but a narrow belt of country, being- 

 found, to the best of my knowledge, in but few of the 

 states outside of Kansas. 



Our return to the hotel was without accident, and 

 our supper such as hungry hunters might well enjoy. 

 After it was disposed of, we gathered around the 

 ample stove in the hotel office, and lived over again 

 the events of the dav. 



