WILD FOWL, 61 



fulfilled the great law of nature, the approaching rigor of that 

 dreary climate oblige these vast congregated flocks to steer for 

 the most genial regions of the South. And no sooner do they 

 arrive at those countries of the earth, inhabited by man, than 

 carnage and slaughter is commenced on their ranks. The Eng- 

 lish at Hudson's Bay — says Pennant — depend greatly on Geese, 

 and in favorable years kill three or four thousand, and barrel 

 them up for use. They send out their servants, as well as In- 

 dians, to shoot these birds on their passage. It is in vain to 

 pursue them ; they therefore form a row of huts, made of 

 boughs, at musket-shot distance from each other, and place them 

 in a line across the vast marshes of the country. Each stand 

 of hovel, as it is called, is occupied by a single person. These 

 attend the flight of the birds, and on their approach, mimic 

 their cackle so well, that the Geese will answer, and wheel and 

 come nearer the stand. The hunter keeps motionless, and on 

 his knees, with his gun cocked, the whole time, and never fires 

 until he has seen the eyes of the Geese. He fires as they are 

 going from him, then picks up another gun that lies by him, 

 and discharges that. The Geese which he has killed, he sets 

 upon sticks, as if alive, to decoy others; he also makes artificial 

 birds for the same purpose. In a good day, for they fly in very 

 uncertain and unequal numbers, a single Indian will kill two 

 hundred. Notwithstanding every species of Goose has a diffe- 

 rent call, yet the Indians are admirable in the imitations of every 

 one. The autumnal flight lasts from the middle of August, to 

 the middle of October. Those which are taken in this season, 

 when the frosts begin, are preserved in their feathers, and left 

 to be frozen, for the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The 

 feathers constitute an article of commerce, and are sent to Eng- 

 land. The vernal flight of these Geese lasts from the middle 

 of April until the middle of May. Their first appearance coin- 

 cides with the thawing of the swamps, when they are very 

 lean. Their arrival from the South is impatiently awaited, — it 

 is the harbinger of the spring, and the month named by the In- 

 dians the Goose Moon. They appear usually at their settle- 



