THE CANADA GOOSE 255 



with a vague unrest. He mopes and is silent; 

 anon he stirs the whole flock with his noisy clat- 

 ter, and soon with a cry like a trumpet call he 

 spreads his brown wings for the north and the 

 safety of its frozen marshes. Every goose 

 within hearing joins him and away they go ; by 

 day and by night in a well nigh unending flight 

 he leads his followers to those Arctic shores. 



When the wearied column comes down to rest 

 on the water, tired enough and loth to fly, the 

 gunner may ** scull" them if he has skill in the 

 handling of a ''gunning float" and is blessed 

 with a strong wrist. It is less tiresome to do 

 your ''sculling" by proxy, however; therefore, 

 if you have some good-natured gunner friend, 

 the possessor of a double "float," it is good 

 judgment to cultivate his acquaintance at this 

 season of the year. The deep ones among our 

 duck and goose shooters are very polite to all 

 the steamboat skippers during the migratory 

 flights of the geese, and a mysterious wink from 

 one of these brass-buttoned people will catch 

 the bay gunners' attention quicker than a kick 

 from another man. "We passed a big flock of 

 geese down off the no'theast p'int of Clabbo'rd 

 Island on the way up. Tom says to come down 



