THE CANADA GOOSE. 
171 
while the absence of their great destroyer, man, and the 
splendours of a perpetual day, may render such regions the 
most suitable for their purpose. 
Having fulfilled the great law of nature, the approaching 
rigours of that dreary climate oblige these vast, congre- 
gated flocks to steer for the more genial regions of the 
south. And no sooner do they arrive at those countries of 
the earth inhabited by man, than carnage and slaughter is 
commenced on their ranks. The English at Hudson's Bay, 
says Pennant, depend greatly on Geese, and in favourable 
years, kill three or four thousand, and barrel them up for 
use. They send out their servants, as well as Indians, to 
shoot these birds on their passage. It is in vain to pursue 
them ; they therefore 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 stand, 
or hovel, as it is 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 an- 
other 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. 
