342 
ANAS, OR GOOSE TRIBE. 
natives that frequent those swampy districts. In the 
barren grounds, on the other hand, frequented by the 
northern Indians, or Chepewyans, the spring goose 
hunt is the most productive. 
“ The only geese seen in numbers in the interior of 
the country are the Canada goose, ( Anas canadensis ,) 
tlie laughing goose, (Anas albifrons,') and the snow 
goose, ( Anas hj/perborea.) The distinct notes of these 
three species are well imitated by the Indians, who 
thus are very successful, in the spring, in bringing them 
within gun-shot. In the autumn, the geese do not so 
readily answer the call; and it is necessary that the 
sportsman should conceal himself, and use some dead 
birds as a decoy. The reported long life of some of 
the species of this group we can neither confirm nor 
deny.* 
* Longevity of Animals. — “Of the natural duration of animal 
life, it is, from many circumstances, difficult to form an accurate 
statement, the wild creatures being in a great measure removed 
from observation, and those in a condition of domestication being 
seldom permitted to live as long as their bodily strength would 
allow. It was formerly supposed that the length of animal life was 
in proportion to its duration in utero, or the space it remained in 
the parent from conception to birth, and the length of time it 
required to obtain maturity. This uotiori might have some support 
in reason and fact occasionally, hut in many cases was incorrect, 
and, in regard to birds, had no foundation. ' Herbivorous animals 
probably live longer than carnivorous ones, vegetable food being 
most easily obtainable in all seasons, in a regular and requisite 
supply ; whereas animals that subsist on flesh, or by the capture of 
prey, are necessitated, at one period, to pine without food, and, a* 
another, are gorged with superfluity : and when the bodily powers 
of rapacious creatures become impaired, existence is difficult to 
support, and gradually ceases ; but with herbivorous animals, in the 
same condition, supply is not equally precarious, or wholly denied. 
Yet it is probable that few animals, in a perfectly wild state, live 
to a natural extinction of life, lu a state of domestication, the 
small number of carnivorous creatures about us are sheltered and 
fed with care, seldom are in want of proper food, and at times are 
permitted to await a gradual decay, continuing as long as nature 
permits, and by such attentions many have attained to a great age ; 
but this is rather an artificial than a "natural existence. Our herbi- 
