198 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



ing thousands are found along the Platte River late in the autumn, 

 and large numbers of these are killed by both sportsmen and 

 pot-hunters. The favorite method of hunting here, is to dig a hole 

 in the stubble fields frequented by the geese, cover it with straw, 

 and lie in wait until four o'clock in the afternoon, when the birds 

 return to feed, then shoot into them as they fly over, and in this 

 way the hunter manages to return home each evening heavily 

 laden with his spoils. Wounded or dead geese are often used as 

 decoys, and prove valuable auxiliaries to the sportsman. Shoot- 

 ing them on the sand bars, as they return to their sleeping grounds, 

 is also practiced extensively, and generally with excellent success. 



When these birds return south at the commencement of winter, 

 they are generally very thin and poor, being quite worn out by 

 their long journey. They soon recuperate however, and ere long 

 become fat and very delicious eating. 



The methods employed in capturing the Canada Geese are 

 very numerous and vary in different sections of the country. In 

 the west it is sometimes possible for the gunner, having carefully 

 trimmed his boat with reeds and grass, or, if it be in winter, with 

 cakes of ice, to scull on to the flock down wind so that in rising 

 they will give him a fair shot. This plan is never, we think, suc- 

 cessful here in the East, as the geese are so much persecuted that 

 they take the alarm at the sight of any large floating object, even 

 though it may have no resemblance to a boat. In Minnesota, 

 where the geese gather in enormous flocks in spring, to feed on 

 the young wheat, they may sometimes be approached on horse- 

 back so closely that the rider is enabled to charge among the flock, 

 and beibre the birds can rise out of reach, several may be secured 

 by knocking them down with a club. This method is also em- 

 ployed, and with much greater success owing to their greater 

 numbers, against the geese in California and further south. These 

 birds are also shot in considerable numbers as they fly to and 

 from their feeding grounds, and if they have to contend against a 

 strong head wind they usually fly low and give the gunner the best 

 of chances. Brant, and sometimes too, Canada Geese, are shot 

 from batteries on the South Shore of Long Island and with satis- 

 factory results. 



By far the most successful mode employed for the capture of 



