CANADA GOOSE. 255 



suddenly changed from mild to severe cold, their pursuit 

 will be found comparatively useless; but in the afternoon 

 and morning in early winter, or at the commencement of 

 spring, if the sportsman secrete himself in some lonely, out- 

 of-the-way corn-field, he is almost certain to obtain numer- 

 ous shots. Still it is very rare for a day to be passed on 

 the prairies wild fowl shooting without an opportunity oc- 

 curring to fire into a flock of wild geese. 



CANADA GOOSE. 



If maimed birds are kept, or the young reared in captiv- 

 ity, they answer magnificently as decoys; for not a flock 

 of wild geese or wild duck will pass within seeing or hear- 

 ing of them without leaving their course to join their ranks. 



An old gander, as may be expected, is tough and hard ; 

 but the young bird, on the contrary, is a great delicacy, 

 and well worth any amount of labor it may have cost to 

 obtain. 



In November, '65, in an afternoon and morning shooting, 

 a friend and self killed eighty-five wild geese, as well as a 

 large number of duck. The scene of this performance was 

 a corn-field, the weather bitterly cold, with snow flying, al- 



