GOOSE. 
539 
these fens with amazing droves ; and among them, 
we are told, all the superannuated geese and gan- 
ders, called in Lincolnshire cagmags , which by a 
long course of plucking prove uncommonly tough 
and dry, and are very apt to fatigue the jaws of 
those who are so unfortunate as to meet with them. 
Under this head we shall take the liberty to in- 
clude the manner in which two different species of 
wild geese are taken ; for which we are principally 
indebted to the Arctic Zoology. The Canada 
goose, anas canadensis Linn., of which immense 
flocks appear in Hudson’s Bay, are the chief sup- 
port of the English settled in that part of the world, 
who in favourable years kill three or four thousand, 
which they salt and barrel. We can readily sup- 
pose that the return of a migratory bird of such im- 
portance to the colonists, must be looked for with 
impatience. This indeed is the case : it is consi- 
dered as the harbinger of spring, and the month 
when they usually appear is named by the Indians 
the goose moon. The English send out their 
servants, as well as Indians, to shoot them on 
their passage ; and as they are convinced that it is 
in vain to pursue them, they form a row of huts 
made of boughs, at musket-shot distance from each 
other, and place them in a line across the vast 
marshes of the country. Each hovel, or, as they are 
called, stand , is occupied by a single person. These 
attend the flight of the birds, and on their approach 
mimic their cackle so well that the geese will an- 
swer and come nearer the stand. During the time 
