THE SHOW GOOSE. 
261 
were tenantless, although it was the warm summer 
time; and had they ever lived in these latitudes we 
should have certainly found them when the wood was 
being split for firewood. 
Here it was we saw those northern geese called by 
the Norwegians “ rein-geese.” We had ascended a 
steep, rocky ledge of rocks, 800 feet above the sea 
level; clambering and creeping by turns we scaled the 
rugged mountain wall; slowly we made our ascent 
to the steep brow of the crags, and as soon as 
we mastered the height we found we were on a 
level with the top, near to the edge of a deep blue 
lake, the surface of which was as smooth as a mirror. 
On it were reposing a number of large pure white 
geese, resting undisturbed in the awful solitude. Our 
sudden appearance was a warning of a danger they 
were not slow in avoiding; rapidly they rose from 
the margin of the water and flew towards us, making 
for the open sea. We quickly recovered from the 
surprise the unexpected vision of these birds threw 
us into, but in our haste we fired, without reflecting 
that the birds would fall into the sea if killed or 
wounded; and so it happened—our two birds killed 
in an easy shot were lost to us. So ended the 
solitary opportunity we had during the voyage of 
securing specimens of the rare snow goose of Spitz- 
