318 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



the '70s, I brought down an old gander, who was leading 

 his flock out for a midday drink in the lake, which I 

 have every reason to believe was piloting his fellows across 

 the country in Washington's time. If I remember 

 rightly, he weighed eighteen pounds, and an all-day's par- 

 boiling in a wash-boiler and a half -day's roasting in a hot 

 oven was not sufficent to get him in shape to set before 

 company. Tough? Well, he was tough enough to have 

 gotten up and walked out of the room with the invited 

 guests. Since that bit of cuisine experience, I have made 

 it a rule, when superintending the preparation of a goose 

 of uncertain age for the table, to place a robust and 

 healthy brick in the roasting-pan. When the brick is 

 easily pierced with a fork, it is safe to test your guests on 

 the goose. 



The receipt for cooking a hare, "first catch your 

 hare," well applies to the wild goose. Now that I have 

 enabled the novice to readily distinguish any variety of 

 the goose family brought to bag, it is fit that he should 

 be instructed how to "catch his goose." 



Space will not allow, nor is it necessary to go into 

 details over the different methods pursued in the capture 

 of each of the different varieties. It is safe to say that nine 

 out of every ten readers of this work will, if they ever go 

 upon a goose-hunting trip, encounter the Canadas or 

 Hutchins almost exclusively, and as all that may be said 

 of them and their habits applies to all the other varieties, 

 except as noted further on. I shall confine myself almost 

 wholly to them; but before coming to that, a few hints 

 about hunting some of the other varieties may be 

 instructive to the amateur and interesting to the old and 

 experienced hunter. 



" Silly as a goose" is a saying familiar to all, but it is 

 not, perhaps, until one has hunted them in their wild 

 state that the saying is given even a passing thought, and 



