1 66 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



sometimes shoot them as they pass, but the favorite method of 

 hunting wild geese is to induce them to approach a hunter con- 

 cealed where he can get a better shot at them. For this kind of 

 hunting, shooting stands are built near bodies of water where 

 wild geese may alight in their passage. These stands are either 

 concealed in the bushes or masked by green boughs. In order 

 to bring near the stands any wild geese that may alight of their 

 own accord, and also to attract any flying by, captive wild geese 



are used as decoys. At first 

 the birds used for this pur- 

 pose were those crippled but 

 not killed by the hunters 

 and kept in confinement. 

 As the supply secured in 

 this way was small, and as 

 the wild birds bred readily 

 in captivity, the breeding of 

 wild geese for decoys soon 

 became quite common in 

 districts where the shoot- 

 ing of this kind of game 

 was good. The wild geese 

 will mate with domestic 

 geese, producing a sterile 

 hybrid called a mongrel 

 goose. 



Place of geese in domestication. In ancient Egypt and Rome 

 the goose was a sacred bird, not an object of worship but re- 

 served for the use of the priests, who keenly appreciated the 

 advantage of having a monopoly of the use of the best domestic 

 table bird then in existence. In later times, until the turkey was 

 introduced, goose was the favorite kind of poultry for festal 

 occasions all through Europe. Then it lost some of its popu- 

 larity in those places where turkeys were extensively grown. In 



FIG. 147. A pet Canada gander. (Pho- 

 tograph from George E. Parrett) 



