CANADA GOOSE. 
177 
or hovel, as they are called, is occupied by only 
siiiirie porson. These attend the flight of the birds, 
on their approach, mimic their cackle so well, that 
p geese will ans\ver, and n heel, and come nearer the 
l^nd. The sportsman k(-eps motionless, and on his 
,!^Oes, with his gnu cocked the whole time, and never 
till he has seen the eyes of tlie geese, lie tires 
, ^lioy are going from him, then picks np another 
that lies by him and discharges that. The geese 
j ‘‘‘ch he has killed he sets upon sticks, as if alive, to 
®'^Oy others ; he also makes artificial birds for the same 
‘’'"'pose. In a good day, for they fly in very uncertain 
i"'! unerpial numbers, a single Indian will kill two 
’"aired. Notwithstanding every sj>ecies of goos(i has 
: ’i’fterent call, yet the Indians are admirable in their 
.j ‘tations of every one. The autumnal flight lasts from 
^ ^.middle of August to the middle of October; those 
,'"‘eh are taken fn this season, when the frosts begin, 
c ” preserved in their feathers, and left to he frozen for 
fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers 
b''’’frtute an article of commerce, and are sent to 
‘"’«land. 
vernal flight of the geese lasts from the middle 
J April until the middle of May. Their lirst appear- 
n Coincides n ilh the thawing of the swamps, when 
j "‘y are very lean. Their arrival from the south is 
j^^Patiently attended ; it is the harbinger of the spring, 
the month named by the Indians the goose moon, 
appear usually at their settlements about St 
^i,®"rge’s day, O. S. and fly northward, to nestle in 
C tiirity They prefer islands to the continent, as 
’’tiler from the haunts of man. * 
^ Aftyr such prodigious havoc as thus appears to he 
among these birds, and their running the gauntlet, 
iji * "lay so speak, for many hundreds of miles through 
r ” ’ destructive fires, no wonder they should have 
^^coiue more scarce, as well as shy, by the time they 
’i"" the shores of the United States. 
y * Arctic Zoology. 
"L' m. M 
