254 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



Although it be two years since the events above narrated 

 occurred, the. impression on my memory is so distinct and 

 pleasurable, that I feel convinced it never will be forgotten. 

 In fact, I regard it as one of those episodes that give an 

 ample reward to the sportsman for weeks, yes, mouths, of 

 lack of success and wasted toil. 



CANADA GOOSE. 



The Canada goose is a magnificent bird, and although 

 smaller than that of Europe, occupies the same place to the 

 New World that the common wild goose does to the Old. 

 The plumage is of a dark slate-color along the neck, breast, 

 and stomach, gradually becoming black toward the back 

 and wing coverts; the head, also, is black, with a clear 

 white ring around the throat, immediately behind the junc- 

 tion with the head. Its average weight is about twelve 

 pounds. 



From thirty -five degrees of north latitude the Canada 

 goose is found in greater or less numbers, according to 

 season and the closeness of settlements, to beyond the Arc- 

 tic Circle, their favorite breeding - places being upon the 

 marshes and lakes from whence flow the rivers that enter 

 the Polar Seas. Consequently they are not to be found 

 upon the popular shooting-grounds or waters of the United 

 States and Canada until severe weather has set in over the 

 Hudson Bay territory, when they migrate in thousands 

 south, either following the coast-line or the course of rivers 

 flowing from north to south. 



On the Chesapeake Bay and the various inlets along the 

 coast of Virginia and North Carolina, I have seen them in 

 great numbers ; still the wet prairies of the West exceed 

 all other localities in the immensity of hordes that visit 

 them. 



During the middle of the day, unless the weather has 



