The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-28

y.
finally discovered the fraud in the local
aurora business, and got their bearings,
qut town, without having broken win
dow or mashed "A citizen On the other
hand, the Greeueville citizens didn't Get A
goose. They didn't want any On the
contrary, they were extremely glad that
the geese didn't get the arc light. which
is an expensive one.
1t Is very good sport to hunt wild geese.
a lO-bore double gun is needed, thick at
the breech, ChOked like a funnel and
brass shells charged with No / or BIB
shot. Many farmers use a Springfield
musket; often it is the weapon thew
brought home from shooting rebels in the
swamps of Virginia. they slice off six
inches of its muzzle, and then have a
piece that will sling lead like rife They
cram five or six fingers of powder or big
shot into it early in the spring, set it be
hind the back entry door, SOS twill be
handy like, - and whether they are mend
lngfenCe in the upper pastur'" or cover
ing potatoes in the house lot they have an
eye out all day "for geese" With the
glance of sailor they scan the southern
horizon They are the prev of many
delusions. A sudden outburst on the
part of barnyard fowls a quarter of a
mile away sets their nerves quivering;
speck in the southern sky sends them
caperlng hOmeward-a Speck that few
moments later turns out to be a wander
ing crow or a solitary hawk, drifting on
outspread motionless wings There is no
lack of geese, though. Often three or
four tOcks day are sighted, but not one
may be within range. The rural sports
man, however, is satisfied with one or two
shots at wild geese on the wing in a sea-
son. and If he bags a bird, is as proud of
the feat as drum major.
His chance usually comes on some thick
or fOggy morning, when of a sudden he
hears the familiar ''honk2 hOnk2" of a
flock astray and troubled. sounding
almost directly overhead, and in a frenzy
of excitement he seizes his gun and leaps
out of doors. Aloft he describes dimlY
a shadowy procession of huge bodies,
forging ahead or wheeling aimlessly, as
swift as meteOrs; he brings his piece to
his shoulder, and almost without taking
aim pulls both triggers in quick success
sion The recoil of the weapon from the
discharge of its heavy and often rusty
loads some times drops the marksman al
most as effectually as the big pellets pull
down geese. But he doesn't mind little
thing like that. He picks himself up
quickly, and without delaying to rub his
bruises, picks up his game if he has
bagged any. The New England farmer
rarely wastes any lead, and with double
shot of the kind noted usually tumbles
from two to three or four geese out of a
flock. At the same time a wild goose is
rarely killed with a gunshot, and the
spOrtsman's livelieSt inning is with the
wounded birds, which run like the wind.
Having overtaken a crippled goose by
means of the hottest kind of running and
adrOit doubling he knocks it stiff with a
swipe from his gun stock or ramrOd. He
distributes his game impartially among
his neighbors, and for day or two every
one feasts on roast wild goose stuffed with
"inyuns' and af1oat in gravy, dish, says
the Nutmeg farmer, ''that's about right
for a king on his throne However good
it may be to the traditional king, mon
arch by divine right and heredity, and
not used to gray geese roasted, might pro
nounce it trife rank all the same.
The farmer sportsman usually spares
the life of one or two birds, clips their
wings, turns them loose among his barn
yard fowls, and in few weeks they are
domesticated. AS result of so doing,
after year or two, he has flock of half
breed geese that are easily distinguish
able from the indigenous species They
are larger, stronger, handsomer, more
shapely, with dusky brown back, almost
black, lowering Visage, and a curious,
open, horn-like protuberance above the
eyes. Their flesh has a strong game
flavor that country people fancy is delici-
Gus. Following the rural highways
among the remote hill towns of Eastern
Connecticut, one frequently notes at
farmsteads half dozen of these stately,
dark, wild fellows tremendously asso-
Ciated with, yet in a way estranged from,
the members of a big flock of foolish,
waddling, tame white geese. The wild
strain is never bred out, nor the
instinct for freedom, which, though
latent, is dominant still They will
bear watching,' say the farmers, who
have their wings closely clipped, es-
pecially so in the fall and spring, when
the wild tiOcks are streaming along to
the south or north Give them the full
use of their big wings, and the first sig
nal from a honking flock going overhead,
puts the very mischief into them Their
long necks are instantly craned toward
the sky, their eyes glisten and bills part
with excitement and surprise, and, actu-
ally trembling with delight, they spread
their long wings, and with a hoarse cry
are off like whirlwind. They wheel
into line with the migrating strangers,
and the chances are you will never see
feather of them again.
Instances are not so very rare, however,
in which d runaway half breed, after a
season or two in the south and north, has
returned to the homestead where he was
reared and contentedly remained there
the rest OF his life. Not long ago Lei
fingwelltown farmer, three miles west Of
this city, William Palmer, had an old
half-tamed wild goose get away from his
flock, and it was gone three years. At
the end of that period, one day late in
March, a great flock of wild fellows came
booming up from the south, and when it
was right above his housetop a big tooth
suddenly fell out of the winged harrow
and shot down into the farmers front
door yard 1t was the runaway goose, of
course, and the gleeful way in which he
made up TO the old folks at home and the
old geese he had forsaken, and the inQuir-
ing style in which he looked the old place
over and poBed his nose INTO things, to see
if any changes had taken place in his alb
sence, was funny, and it showed that he
was glad to get home again.
o. these wild fellows are as sharp as
fox! The wild flocks are as willy as they
are wary, and the way they size up the
situation, when they chance on a relative
in captivity, is astonishing. In most in
stances, as soon as they catch sight of
him they drop down in a safe place in the
neighborhood and with peculiar call of
invitation, often lowering about the barn
yard after nightfall, seek to beguile him
away from his home.
A sure way to hunt wild geese is to
stalk them at daybreak or just after sun
set, when they are resting over night in
the waters of rural lakes, way stations in
a.