geese leave the lake every inoriiiiiL; and (.-xening to feed 

 on the stnlil)Ie left standing in the whc-at fields, and on 

 tliL'ir passage to and fro comes tlic only chance to shoot 

 thcni, (hi arrix'ing here the chief hnnter now lelt with 

 our ear, Mr. A. 1!. I". Kinney, of Worcester, Mass., 

 selected favorable locations for sinking pits to shoot from, 

 and we all went to x\-ork digging with spades and a rail- 

 road crowbar. After the ])loughed surface was removed 

 the earth was found to be almost solid black loam, which 

 reached down as far as we went, nearly li\"e feet, and 

 awfully hard digging it was, as our blistered hands gave 

 proof. When the i)its were dug a couple of dozen sheet- 

 iron decoy geese were set out: then we covered the 

 edges of the pits with wheat straw, hiding every lump 

 of fresh-turned earth, .so that nothing could be seen 

 which Would excite the suspicion of the geese. We 

 had scarcely finished our task when we heard their first 

 "honkl honk!" Down into the ])its we tumbled like 

 gophers, and crouching together with scarcely breathing 

 room, we saw flock after flock sail o\-er without giving 

 much attention to our painted >ham geese. Then anijther 

 flock came which had more curiosity. To and fro they 

 sailed by us, circling around to find out if things were 

 "on the scjuare," each circle bringing them lower and 

 lower luitil we were satisfied the\- were within i;un>hot. 

 Then u]) we junijied and bla/ed away. And the geese 

 — well, nothing seemed to ha\"e hajipened to them, they 

 flew off appareiitlx- untouched, but only ajiparentlx-; we 

 saw one of them lag behind, then drop a little, then rise 

 to the flock, and in a second or two tumble headlong a 

 quarter of a mile away. Another faltered and fell a half 



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