WILD GEESE AND BRANT. I9I 



rot fly, to draw still nearer, and give them smaller shot at from 

 forty to sixty yards. 



Sometimes they are stalked behind trained cattle, which feed 

 gradually toward the flock, the hunter keeping himself well con- 

 cealed behind bis ox. In this way great numbers are secured, for 

 the goose' shooters of the West coast use demi-cannons, and load 

 them with all that they will bear. 



Ill Oregon the sportsmen hunt on the prairies during wet or 

 lowering weather, but resort to the sand-bars of the rivers during 

 moonlight nights and sunny days. Some excellent sport can be 

 enjoyed by shooting the birds on the bars as they return from their 

 feeding grounds late in the evening, taking them on the wing 

 as they fly past. A favorite method for hunting them at night is 

 to light a fire on the river bank, or bar, so that its glow may 

 illumine the bewildered birds near at hand, and then to pour volley 

 after volley into them as they rise in the air to escape the unusual 

 apparition, or to study its meaning and purpose. 



No matter in what way the birds are killed, there seems to be 

 no diminution in their numbers at the return of each season, as 

 they are reported abundant everywhere, from the Pacific Ocean to 

 the Missouri River. This species winters in Southern California, 

 Texas, and Arizona, reaching its grounds about the first of De- 

 cember, though of course many arrive at their southern home a 

 couple of months before that time. 



Of the breeding habits of the Snow Goose very little is known, 

 beyond the fact that they nest in the far North. Their eggs are 

 of a yellowish white color, and are but little larger than those of 

 the Eider Duck. According to Mr. Dall this species does not breed 

 on the Yukon River in Alaska, and is only seen there for a few 

 days in spring on its way to more northern latitudes. 



There is no d*ubt that were a systematic attempt made to do- 

 mesticate the Snow Goose, it would be in the highest degree suc- 

 cessful, and when we consider the excellence of its flesh, it would 

 seem that it might well repay our California sportsmen to preserve 

 their wing-tipped or only slightly wounded birds, for the purpose 

 of tr)-ing the experiment. Mr. Ridgway in the American Nat' 

 uralist has given us an interesting account of the voluntary domes« 

 tication in Illinois of a bird of this species. 



