386 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



powers, and they thus make the geese, in their flight, describe 

 all the letters of the alphabet, as well as all the figures used in 

 the common rules of arithmetic. Their track is generally so 

 high, that it is almost impossible to reach them with a fowling- 

 piece : in long and severe frosts, however, they fly much lower, 

 and, at such times, afford good diversion to the sportsman. The 

 common grey wild-goose forms an excellent dish for the table; 

 but there is a larger kind that sometimes attracts the attention 

 of the sportsman, but possesses a very strong and oily flavour. 

 Wild-geese are found in great numbers in Canada, where 

 the English settlers send out their own servants, as well as em- 

 ploy the Indians, to shoot them. The arrival of the geese in 

 Canada is impatiently expected it is the harbinger of spring ; 

 and the month is named by the Indians the goose-moon. In 

 shooting these birds, they never attempt to pursue them, for that 

 would be vain ; but a row of huts, formed of boughs, at musket- 

 shot distance from each other, is placed in a line across the vast 

 marshes of that country. Each hut is occupied by one person 

 only. These observe the flight of the geese, which no sooner 

 approach within hearing, than they mimic their cackle so well, 

 that. the birds will answer, wheel, and come near the hut, or 

 stand. When the geese are completely within gun shot, the 

 sportsman fires, and immediately seizes another gun, ready 

 cocked for the purpose, and discharges that also. The game 

 that he has killed, he sets up on sticks, as if alive, to decoy 

 others : he also makes artificial birds for the same purpose. In 

 a crood day (for they fly in very uncertain and unequal numbers) 

 a single Indian will kill upwards of a hundred. There are several 

 species of geese; and, though each has a different call, the 

 Indians imitate them all with admirable accuracy. 



