CANADA SWAN. 



our settlements in numbers about St. George's day, 

 O. S. and fly northward to nestle in security. They 

 prefer islands to the continent, as further from the 

 haunts of men. The English send out their ser- 

 vants, as well as Indians, 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 

 hovel, or, as they are called, stand, is occupied by 

 only 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 sportsman keeps mo- 

 tionless, and on his knees, with his gun cocked the 

 whole time, and never fires till he has seen the eyes 

 of the Geese : he fires as they are going from him, 

 and picks up another gun that lies by him, and dis- 

 charges that. The Geese which he has killed he sets 

 up on 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. Not- 

 withstanding every species of Goose has a different 

 call, yet the Indians are admirable in their imitation 

 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 fea- 

 thers constitute an article of commerce, and are sent 

 to England." 



