WILD GEESE, 241 
scarcely leave a blade of grain growing in quite a large 
district. Itis estimated that they devoured crops val- 
ued at two hundred thousand dollars in one county of 
California in 1878, and that their depredations in other 
sections were equally as great; it is therefore evident that 
they are not such welcome visitors as they would be if 
they had smaller appetites. A strong peculiarity about 
some of the geese is the manner in which they alight to 
feed, for each species keeps by itself, although the vari- 
eties of the same species may be mingled indiscriminately 
together, and gabbling contentedly while they are en- 
gaged in impoverishing the grangers. Shooting produces 
such little effect on their numbers that many farmers 
have almost given it up in despair, and depend on grain 
soaked in strychnine for accomplishing their purpose; but 
this method has its drawbacks, for the geese that do not 
succumb at once to the poison may fly away and be shot 
by men who do not know what they have been feeding 
on, and, as a result, persons who eat their flesh are fre- 
quently poisoned. They poison wild geese with Colchi- 
cus indicus in China, but this, it seems, is not baneful 
to human beings, as one rarely hears of any fatal acci- 
dents, although the birds are freely eaten by the poor 
people, while the use of strychnine is often attended 
by the direst results in parts of the West. There are 
about a dozen species of wild geese in the United States, 
by including the Dendrocygna found in the extreme 
Southwest, and which seem to-be the connecting link 
between the Anseringw and Anating. These inhabit 
trees, and have qualities which make them akin to both 
families, but as they are only found in limited numbers, 
and are partial to tropicial climates, I have not deemed 
it necessary to describe them specifically. 
The system of wild-fow] shooting practised in the West 
varies very much, and is either elaborate or very simple. 
If a person could only believe some waggish old farmers, 
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