NATURE AND HER HARMONIES. 27 



roost, there is a continual roar, caused by the restless shifting 

 of the birds, and sounds of impatient struggle emitted by 

 them, which can be heard distinctly for several miles. The 

 numbers collected are incalculably immense, since the space 

 covered sometimes extends for over a mile in length, with a 

 breadth determined by the character of the ground. 



This is a most astonishing scene. When approached in 

 the early part of the night on horseback, the hubbub is 

 strangely discordant, and overwhelmingly deafening. They 

 will permit themselves to be killed in great numbers with 

 sticks, or any convenient weapon, without the necessity of 

 using guns. They, however, when frequently disturbed in 

 the first of the season, will easily change their roosting-place, 

 but when the heavy snows have fallen, by melting which by 

 the heat of their bodies, and by trampling it down, they have 

 formed a sort of sheltered yard, the outside walls of which de- 

 fend them against the winds, they are not easily driven away 

 by any degree of persecution. Indeed, at this time, they be- 

 come so emaciated as to afford but little inducement to any 

 human persecutors, by whom they are seldom troubled, in- 

 deed, on account of the remoteness of these locations ; from 

 foxes, wolves, hawks, and owls, &c., their natural enemies, 

 they have, of course, to expect no mercy at any time. 



The noise of their restless duckings, flutterings and shift- 

 ings, begins to subside a few hours after dark. The birds 

 have now arranged themselves for the night, nestled as close 

 as they can be wedged every bird with his breast turned to 

 the quarter in which the wind may be prevailing. This scene is 

 one of the most curious that can be imagined, especially when 

 they have the moonlight on the snow to contrast with their 

 dark backs.- At this time, they may be killed by cart-loads, 

 as only those in the immediate neighborhood of the aggressor 

 are disturbed, apparently. They rise to the height of a few 

 feet, with a stupefied and aimless fluttering, and plunge into 

 the snow, within a short distance, where they are easily taken 

 by the hand. In these helpless conditions, such immense 



