CANADA GOOSE-SHOOTING. 281 



of the oldest inhabitant, and amateur fisherman, or the 

 owner of a setter dog. It is a matter of history of a 

 goose in captivity being killed at the age of 80 years, 

 necessity compelling his removal at that tender age, on 

 account of his mischievousness. Think of it ! Having 

 to be killed at the age of 80 because of mischievousness. 

 It does seem, that at that time of life, childish and 

 youthful trick:; ought to have been discarded ; but for 

 aught we know, this same goose may have been in its 

 earliest childhood ; perhaps even the age of adolescence 

 had not been reached. And what age he might have 

 attained, had he not by his own playful indiscretions in- 

 vited his own destruction, it is impossible to predict. 

 After being acquainted with the sad decapitation of the- 

 departed goose, cut off in the spring-time of his earthly 

 career, I am fully convinced of the extreme age many 

 old ganders I have killed must have reached. One 

 in particular, I have in mind. At the time of 

 his dissolution and when compelled to bid adieu 

 to all worldly affairs he was the leader of a large flock, 

 coming into my decoys. His immense size, appearing 

 almost a third larger than his companions, at once at- 

 tracted my attention. At the report of my gun he fell 

 with a loud thud on the frozen ground. When I picked 

 him up, his every appearance convinced me that he was 

 a patriarch ; little gray hairs streaked through the 

 glossy black on his head, around his eyes tiny wrinkles 

 were visible everything in fact satisfied me that his 

 age was great. His enlarged neck, his body weighing 

 13 pounds, and his general appearance filled me with 

 awe, not unmixed with admiration $ and the thought 

 occurred to me, that if a goose at the tender age of 80 

 years is killed because of mischievousness, how old must. 



