CHAPTER XXXI. 



CANADA GOOSE SHOOTING. 



(Anser Canadensis.) 



Sailing in the solemn midnight, underneath the frosty moon, 



I can hear the clanging pinions of each shadowy platoon, 



Near the winged hosts, commotion, marching to the Northern 



Ocean, 



File on file, rank on rank, speeding to some reedy bank, 



Oozy fens or marshes gray, far up Baffin's icy bay; 



Honking, clamoring in their flight under the black clouds of 



night. 



Winging over wastes of ocean, over voyaging ships they pass, 

 Where from reeling mast the shipboy notes them with the up- 

 rais'd glass, 



And the fisher in his dory drops his line to view their flight, 

 And the baffled fowler gazes, hopeless, till they fade from sight;, 

 Inland over plain and pasture, over mountain, wood and stream, 

 Onward speeds the long procession, northward the swift pinions 

 gleam. 



