CANADA GOOSE. 
177 
stand, or hovel, as they are called, is occupied by only 
a single person. These attend the flight of the birds, 
and, on their approach, mimic their cackle so well, that 
the geese will answer, and wheel, and come nearer the 
stand. The sportsman keeps motionless, and on his 
knees, with his gun cocked the whole time, and never 
fires till he has seen the eyes of the geese. He fires 
as they are going from him, then picks up another 
gun that lies by him and discharges that. The geese 
which he has killed he sets upon sticks, as if alive, to 
decoy others ; he also makes artificial birds for the same 
purpose. In a good day, for they fly in very uncertain 
and unequal^ numbers, a single Indian will kill two 
hundred. Notwithstanding every species of goose has 
a different call, yet the Indians are admirable in their 
imitations of every one. The autumnal flight lasts from 
the middle of August to the middle of October ; those 
which are taken in this season, when the frosts begin, 
are preserved in their feathers, and left to be frozen for 
the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers 
constitute an article of commerce, and are sent to 
England. 
The vernal flight of the geese lasts from the middle 
of April until the middle of May. Their first appear- 
ance coincides with the thawing of the swamps, when 
they are very lean. Their arrival from the south is 
impatiently attended ; it is the harbinger of the spring, 
and the month named by the Indians the goose moon. 
They appear usually at their settlements about St 
George’s day, O. S. and fly northward, to nestle in 
security. They prefer islands to the continent, as 
farther from the haunts of man.* 
After such prodigious havoc as thus appears to be 
made among these birds, and their running the gauntlet, 
if I may so speak, for many hundreds of miles through 
such destructive fires, no wonder they should have 
become more scarce, as well as shy, by the time they 
reach the shores of the United States. 
* Arctic Zoology . 
M 
VOL. III. 
