NATUEE AND HER HARMONIES. 
27 
roost, there is a continual roar, caused by the restless shifting 
of the birds, and sounds of impatient struggle emitted by 
them, which can be heard distinctly for several miles. The 
numbers collected are incalculably immense, since the space 
covered sometimes extends for over a mile in length, with a 
breadth determined by the character of the ground. 
This is a most astonishing scene. When approached in 
the early part of the night on horseback, the hubbub is 
strangely discordant, and overwhelmingly deafening. They 
will permit themselves to be killed in great numbers with 
sticks, or any convenient weapon, without the necessity of 
using guns. They, however, when frequently disturbed in 
the first of the season, will easily change their roosting-place, 
but when the heavy snows have fallen, by melting which by 
the heat of their bodies, and by trampling it down, they have 
formed a sort of sheltered yard, the outside walls of which de- 
fend them against the winds, they are not easily driven away 
by any degree of persecution. Indeed, at this time, they be- 
come so emaciated as to afford but little inducement to any 
human persecutors, by whom they are seldom troubled, in- 
deed, on account of the remoteness of these locations ; from 
foxes, wolves, hawks, and owls, &c., their natural enemies, 
they have, of course, to expect no mercy at any time. 
The noise of their restless duckings, flutterings and shift- 
ings, begins to subside a few hours after dark. The birds 
have now arranged themselves for the night, nestled as close 
as they can be wedged — every bird with his breast turned to 
the quarter in which the wind may be prevailing. This scene is 
one of the most curious that can be imagined, especially when 
they have the moonlight on the snow to contrast with their 
dark backs. At this time, they may be killed by cart-loads, 
as only those in the immediate neighborhood of the aggressor 
are disturbed, apparently. They rise to the height of a few 
feet, with a stupefied and aimless fluttering, and plunge into 
the snow, within a short distance, where they are easily taken 
by the hand. In these helpless conditions, such immense 
