WILD FOWL. 
69 
as he beholds their grand and lofty flight. The firelock, that 
useful piece of furniture which ornaments all our farm-houses, 
is immediately brought into requisition, and the village store¬ 
keeper is industriously employed in answering the demand for 
‘ single B.’s. The report of guns reverberates through the coun_ 
try, but still these sagacious birds keep on their steady course ; 
occasionally a single feather may be seen slowly descending to 
the earth, as if to inform the eager gunner of their nicely cal¬ 
culated distance, or perchance after the loud report of some 
well-mettled piece, a single bird may be seen leaving the flock, 
its death-knell sounded by its more fortunate, but terrified com¬ 
panions. 
“ But not so with the practised bay-gunner. On the return of 
the Geese his prospects brighten; he looks upon them as debtors 
returned to cancel a long-standing obligation; he wastes not 
his ammunition on space; he has watched their flight, and dis¬ 
covered their favorite sanding place ; the long-neglected decoys 
are placed in his skiff, and before daylight has appeared, he is 
pulling his way across the rough bay with glorious anticipations 
of profit. On gaining the desired point, he puts out his decoys, 
sinks a box in the sand, and there lies concealed. As they ap¬ 
proach, his keen eye glances quickly over his trusty gun, and 
ere a moment elapses death is among them. 
“ When wounded, they have the power of sinking themselves 
in the water, leaving their bill out. In this situation they will 
remain a considerable length of time. The dead body of a 
Goose, when lying on the water, will float two-thirds out. In 
stormy weather they fly low ; when it is very foggy, they fre¬ 
quently become confused, and alight on the ground. 
“ The Canada Geese remain with us until our bays are frozen, 
and return with the disappearance of ice in the spring; at this 
season their stay is short. Early in April they collect in large 
flocks, and almost simultaneously move off. Their food consists 
of sedge roots, marine plants, berries, and herbage of most 
kinds. In winter they are common on the lakes in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the lower Mississippi, where I was informed by the 
