WILD FOWL. 59 



as he beholds their grand and lofty flight. The firelock, that 

 useful piece of furniture which ornaments all our farm-houses, 

 is immediately brought into requisition, and the village store- 

 keeper is industriously employed in answering the demand for 

 ' single B.'s. The report of guns reverberates through the coun. 

 try, but still these sagacious birds keep on their steady course ; 

 occasionally a single feather may be seen slowly descending to 

 the earth, as if to inform the eager gunner of their nicely cal- 

 culated distance, or perchance after the loud report of some 

 well-mettled piece, a single bird may be seen leaving the flock, 

 its death-knell sounded by its more fortunate, but terrified com- 

 panions. 



" But not so with the practised bay-gunner. On the return of 

 the Geese his prospects brighten ; he looks upon them as debtors 

 returned to cancel a long-standing obligation ; he wastes not 

 his ammunition on space ; he has watched their flight, and dis- 

 covered their favorite sanding place ; the long-neglected decoys 

 are placed in his skiff", and before daylight has appeared, he is 

 pulling his way across the rough bay with glorious anticipations 

 of profit. On gaining the desired point, he puts out his decoys, 

 sinks a box in the sand, and there lies concealed. As they ap- 

 proach, his keen eye glances quickly over his trusty gun, and 

 ere a moment elapses death is among them. 



" When wounded, they have the power of sinking themselves 

 in the water, leaving their bill out. In this situation they will 

 remain a considerable length of time. The dead body of a 

 Goose, when lying on the water, will float two-thirds out. In 

 stoiTuy weather they fly low ; when it is very foggy, they fre- 

 quently become confused, and alight on the ground. 



" The Canada Geese remain with us until our bays are frozen, 

 and return with the disappearance of ice in the spring ; at this 

 season their stay is short. Early- in April they collect in large 

 flocks, and almost simultaneously move off. Their food consists 

 of sedge roots, marine plants, berries, and herbage of most 

 kinds. In winter they are common on the lakes in the neigh- 

 borhood of the lower Mississippi, where I was informed by the 



