138 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1919 



''With regard to Trees, I passed part of my youth in the 

 shade of Burnham Beeches, and have now the happiness of 

 living amid my own 'green retreats'. I am not surprised that 

 the ancients worshipped Trees. La\es and Mountains, how- 

 ever glorious for a time, in time weary. Sylvan scenery never 

 palls." — Letter from Lord Beaconsfield. 



JACK MINER 



(Continued from page 103) 

 that old leader goes right over them — now he 

 has passed them. There I am under the blanket 

 — ^possibly it is a sheet if there is a little snow 

 on the ground — ^the three corners are tied down 

 and I am underneath it, just hidden there, with 

 a. gun ready. And the leader swings around, 

 and as he swings around he calls and starts 

 to drop his big black feet to come down. But 

 for some unaccountable reason he changes his 

 notes and cHmbs into the air — everybody look 

 out for himself; and the minute he changed his 

 note they all darted in as many different direc- 

 tions as there were geese — it was the danger 

 signal. What did he see? He didn't shy from 

 the other fellows, but, he said, that fellow over 

 there knocked out two of my family last year. 

 Two and two make four — ^if the wild goose 

 knows his enemy why wouldn't he know his 

 friend? 



The Neighbors' Boys. 



I have only ten acres, people; how can I 

 protect the geese? There are eight boys around 

 the neighborhood, from five families. I said to 

 them: If you won't shoot at the wild geese 

 around here, I will see that you get a chance to 

 shoot at one in the pond. That was in 1904. 

 In 1905, 1906 and 1907 no wild geese came. 

 In 1908, one morning eleven wild geese came, 

 and they hadn't been there ten minutss before 

 the boys came along with their guns. I said: 

 "Boys, leave it entirely with me; don't shoot at 

 them for a week or two". "But", they said, 

 "you said we could shoot them"? I said, "Boys, 

 if you don't get the opportunity to shoot a wild 

 goose, I will give you ten dollars a piece, if you 

 will let me manage it." They said: "We don't 

 want your money" — of course they knew that 

 I didn't have it. However, in about three 

 v,'eeks, we hoisted a signal, "Go on, boys!" 

 We were behind the bank I had thrown up there. 



Uncle Jack was to shoot the two ganders. The 

 boys lined up on one side and cocked their 

 guns, and as they raised them, I made it my 

 business to scare the geese so that the boys 

 wouldn't shoot them. Bang! went their guns. 

 The two ganders got away, but five geese lay 

 dead in the water, one of each family. I 

 asked the boys not to shoot the others. To 

 my surprise and delight, the other six did not 

 stayed until the time came for them to migrate, 

 stay away two hours; they came back, and 

 If you get one bird to come, there is your 

 opportunity. 



Moving Day in Birdland. 



Next spring it was asked if the geese would 

 come back. On March 18 I heard a strange 

 honking and I looked up and saw that they 

 were coming — 32 of them. They came down 

 within 100 feet of us, I walked out and they 

 never flew away. I had the privilege of see- 

 ing them introduce their families. The boys 

 shot ten, and that left 22 to go away. Next 

 spring it was asked what time the gsese would 

 come back. They started to come on March 

 4, and in less than two weeks there were over 

 400 there. The boys shot 1 6 and let the rest 

 go. Look how our flock of geese has multi- 

 plied; now we have a flock of over 350. They 

 started coming on February 20, and when the 

 first was whirling down I counted 1 75 shots at 

 him between my home and Lake Erie. When 

 the first was lighting in the pond, you couldn't 

 see the end of the string of families that were 

 coming. 



Five Acres of Geese. 



I don't know whether you have experienced 

 it, but I have: there is nothing more embar- 

 rassing than to have more guests than you can 

 feed. There I was, on Good Friday of 1913, 

 with a five-acre field full of geese. We couldn't 

 begin to feed them. Some of the geese must 

 have told their friends what was not true, and 

 induced them to come to a place where there 



