Canada geese flying low and straight toward us; seizing his gun, he up
with it and let drive at one of the geese as it was passing beyond him,
and brought it down. He concluded that they had just arrived from the
south and were seeking a place to feed. Later, we encountered at close
range several more and the hunter secured another.

As they were the first geese he had killed that season, he did not
allow the women to touch them, but according to the Indian custom,
dressed and cooked them himself; also, at supper time, he gave all the
flesh to the rest of us, and saved for himself nothing but the part
from which the eggs came. Further, he cautioned us not to laugh or
talk while eating the geese, otherwise their spirits would be offended
and he would have ill-luck for the rest of the season. And when the
meal was finished he collected all the bones and tossed them into the
centre of the fire, so that they would be properly consumed instead of
allowing the dogs to eat them; and thus he warded off misfortune.

As we sat by the fire that night Oo-koo-hoo busied himself making
decoys for geese, by chopping blocks of dry pine into rough images of
their bodies, and fashioning their necks and heads from bent willow
sticks; as well as roughly staining the completed models to represent
the plumage. And while he worked he talked of the coming of the birds
in spring.

"My son, the first birds to arrive are the eagles; next, the snow-birds
and the barking crows (ravens); then the big gray (Canada) geese, and
the larger ducks; then the smaller kinds of geese and the smaller kinds
of ducks; and then the robins, blackbirds, and gulls. Then, as likely
as not, a few days later, what is called a 'goose winter'--a heavy, wet
snowstorm followed by colder weather--may come along and try to drive