356 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Canada, Goose. This is the common Wild Goose of the United 

 States, universally known over the country ; whose regular periodical 

 migrations are the sure signals of returning spring, or approaching 

 winter. The tracts of their vast migratory jemmies are not confined 

 to the coast or its vicinity. In their voyages to and from the north, 

 these \vinged pilgrims pass over the interior on both sides of the 

 mountains. Their first arrival on the coast of New Jersey is early in 

 October, and their first numerous appearance is the sure prognostic 

 of severe weather. Those which continue all winter frequent the 

 shallow bays and marsh islands ; their principal food being the sea- 

 cabbage, and the roots of the sedge. Every few days they make an 

 excursion to the inlets on the beach for gravel. They cross, indis- 

 criminately, over land or water, generally taking the nearest course 

 to their object ; differing in this respect from the Brant, who will 

 often go a great way round by water rather than cross over the land. 

 Wounded Geese have, in numerous instances, been completely do- 

 mesticated, and readily pair with the domestic Geese. The offspring 

 are said to be incapable of propagation ; they are larger than either 

 of the parents : but the characteristic marks of the Wild Goose still 

 predominate. The Canada Goose is now domesticated in numerous 

 quarters of the country, and is remarked for being extremely watch- 

 ful, and more sensible of approaching changes in the atmosphere than 

 the common Gray Goose. In England, France and Germany, they 

 have also been long domesticated. Thus has America already added 

 to the stock of domestic fowls three species, the Turkey, the Mus- 

 covy Duck, and the Canada Goose, inferior to none in usefulness ; 

 for it is acknowledged by an English naturalist of good observation, 

 the ingenious Bewick, that this last species "is as familiar, breed* 

 as freely, and is in every respect as valuable as the common Goose. 1 * 



The Wild Swan breeds in the northern parts of North America, 

 multitudes of them having been seen, with their young, by both 

 Hearne and Mackenzie, in their journies to the northern ocean. 

 When these birds are moulting or changing their feathers, the In- 

 dians, taking advantage of their inability to fl} r , pursue them and kill 

 numbers ; their eggs and young are likewise sought after with avi- 

 dity. In the Chesapeake bay these noble birds appear every autumn ; 

 often associating with the Canada Geese, but generally feeding by 

 themselves in shallow water, where they can reach the bottom with 

 their bills. They are a wary bird, and can seldom be approached 

 within gunshot. Seen at a distance, in strings of one hundred or 

 more, gracefully floating on the smooth expanse, they give great in- 

 terest to the watery landscape ; their snow-white plumage, contrast- 

 ed with the russet hue of the adjacent shores, producing a fine effect, 

 while they arouse in the mind of the classic voyager some of the 

 most amiable and affecting fables of antiquity. The old Swans, as 

 an article of food, are in no esteem, being tough, insipid, and far infe- 

 rior to the Geese ; but the cygnets or young Swans are considered 

 good eating. 



The Snake-bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia and the 

 Floridas. It seems to have derived its name from the singular form 

 of its head and neck, which at a distance very mivjh resemble some 

 species of serpents. In those countries where noxious aniuials abound, 

 we may readily conceive that the appearance of this bird, extending 

 its long neck through the foliage of a tree, would tend to startle the 

 wary traveller, whose imagination had portrayed objects of danger 



