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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 stormy weather 

 they fly low ; when it is very foggy, they frequently become con- 

 fused, 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 neighborhood of the lower Missis- 

 sippi, where I was informed by the inhabitants that a few stragglers 

 remain with them during summer. 



This species is not the origin of the Domestic Goose, as is by some 

 supposed, the genealogy of which it is said has been traced to 

 the Bean Goose of Europe. 



" The English of Hudson's Bay depend greatly on Geese of 

 these and other kinds for their support, and in favorable years, 

 kill three or four thousand, which they salt and barrel. Their 

 arrival is impatiently attended; it is the harbinger of the spring, 

 and the month named by the Indians the Goose Moon. They 

 appear usually at our settlements in numbers about St. George's 

 day, O. S., and fly northward to nestle in security. They pre- 

 fer islands to the continent, as farther from the haunts of men. 

 Thus Marble Island was found in August to swarm with Swans, 

 Geese, and Ducks, the old ones moulting, and the young at that 

 time incapable of flying. The English send out their servants, 

 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 a 

 single person. These attend the flight of the birds, and on their 



