J6 CANADA GOOSE. 



see that it is impossible even for the keen eye of the sentinel goose to fol- 

 low them. Bano-, bang, qu<ith his long gun, and the birds in dismay in- 

 stantly start, and fly towards the spot where I am. When they approach 

 I spring up on my feet, the geese shuffle, and instantaneously rise upright ; 

 I touch mv triggers singly, and broken-winged and dead two birds come 

 heavily to the ground at my feet. Oh that we had more guns I But the 

 business at this pond has been transacted. We collect our game, return 

 to our horses, fasten the necks of the geese and ducks together, and throw- 

 ing them across our saddles, proceed towards another pond. In this 

 manner we continue to shoot until the number of geese obtained would 

 seem to you so very large that I shall not specify it. 



At another time my friend proceeds alone to the Falls of the Ohio, 

 and, as usual, reaches the margins of the stream long before day. His 

 well-trained steed plunges into the whirls of the rapid current, and, with 

 some difficulty, carries his bold rider to an island, where he lands drench- 

 ed and cold. The horse knows what he has to do as well as his master, 

 and while the former ranges about and nips the frozen herbage, the lat- 

 ter carefully approaches a well-known pile -of drifted wood, and conceals 

 himself in it. His famous dog Nep is close at his heels. Now the dull 

 grey dawn gives him a dim view of the geese ; he fires, several fall on the 

 spot, and one severely wounded rises and alights in the Indian Chute. 

 Neptune dashes after it, but as the current is powerful, the gunner whist- 

 les to his horse, who, with pricked ears, gallops up. He instantly vaults 

 into the saddle, and now see them plunge into the treacherous stream. 

 The wounded game is overtaken, the dog is dragged along, and at length 

 on the Indiana shore the horse and his rider have efflected a landing. Any 

 other man than he of whose exploits I am the faithful recorder, would 

 have perished long ago. But it is not half so much for the sake of the 

 plunder that he undergoes all this labour and danger, as for the gratifi- 

 cation it affords his kind heart to distribute the game among his nume- 

 rous friends in Louisville. 



On our eastern shores matters are differently managed. The gunners 

 there shoot geese with the prospect of pecuniary gain, and go to work in 

 another way. Some attract them with wooden geese, others with ac- 

 tual birds ; they lie in ambush for many hours at a time, and destroy an 

 immense number of them, by using extremely long guns ; but as there is 

 little sport in this sort of shooting, I shall say no more about it. Here 

 the Canada Goose feeds much on a species of long slender grass, the Zos- 



