DECOY BIRDS. 249 



During the middle of the day, unless the weather 

 has suddenly changed from mild to severe cold, their 

 pursuit will be found comparatively useless ; but in the 

 afternoon and morning in early winter, or at the com- 

 mencement of spring, if the sportsman secrete himself 

 in some lonely out-of-the-way corn-field, he is almost 



* certain to obtain numerous shots. Still it is very 

 rare for a day to be passed on the prairies wild-fowl 

 shooting without an opportunity occurring to fire into 



* a flock of wild geese. 



If maimed birds are kept, or the young reared in 



captivity, they answer magnificently as decoys, for 



not a flock of wild geese or wild duck will pass within 



seeing or hearing of them without leaving their course 



v to join their ranks. 



An old gandjer^ as may be expected, is tough and 

 hard, but the young bird on the contraiy i.s a great 

 jlelicacy, and well worth any amount of labour it may 

 have cost to obtain. 



In November, 'sixty-five, in an afternoon and morn- 

 ing shooting, a friend and self killed eighty-five wild 

 geese, as w T ell as a large number of duck. The scene 

 of this performance w r as a corn-field, the weather bitterly 

 cold, with snow flying, although the previous week had 

 ^ been warm enough for summer clothing. 



As I am about to say so much on mallard shooting* 

 and the advice I will give the sportsman in reference 

 to their pursuit being equally applicable to the Canada 

 goose, I trust the reader will pardon my not further 

 extending my remarks. 



BRENT GEESE are well known in the United King- 

 dom, yet they are comparatively scarce among us 



