ANAS, OR GOOSE TRIBE. 
341 
42 . ANAS , OR GOOSE TRIBE. 
“The arrival of the birds of this genus in the fur coun- 
tries marks the return of spring, and diffuses as much 
joy among the wandering hunters of the Arctic regions, 
as the harvest or vintage excites in more genial climes. 
It is an event of great importance to the natives, as it 
affords them a supply of food at a season when the 
moose and deer hunting is impeded by the floods of 
melting snow. The larger species, or geese, have been 
principally attended to, and are observed to follow 
determinate routes in their progress northward, and to 
halt regularly at certain stations. Their return in 
autumn is also by passes well known to the natives, 
but not always in the same line with their spring 
movements. Actuated in the beginning of the season 
by an impulse which hurries them to the breeding 
stations, they remain at their resting places only long 
enough to admit of the country to the northward being 
properly thawed for their reception ; but during these 
rests, which are seldom prolonged beyond eight or ten 
days, they become very fat, although on their first 
arrival they are always lean. Their movements to the 
northward are sometimes premature ; and after having 
left a station, they occasionally return to it for a few 
days. Such an event is always followed by cold frosty 
weather, or severe snow storms. When they return 
in autumn, their migrations being more exclusively 
regulated by the supplies of food they can obtain, their 
halt in the marshy districts through which the Sas~ 
katchawan, and its continuation, Nelson’s River, flow, 
and on the low shores of the southern parts of Hud- 
son’s Bay, is more considerable, and is terminated by 
the freezing of the marshes. This period forms the 
principal goose hunt of the Crees, who are the only 
