Habits of the Canada Goose. c 255 



kingfisher. If I may judge by the disappearance of the kite, 

 the raven, and the buzzard from this part of the country, I 

 should say that the day is at no great distance when the 

 kino-fisher will be seen no more in this neighbourhood, where 

 once it was so plentiful and its appearance so grateful to 

 every lover of animated nature. Where, in fine, its singular 

 mode of procuring food, contrasted with its anatomy, causes 

 astonishment in the beholder, and cannot fail to convince him 

 that modern ornithologists were ignorant of the true nature 

 of the kingfisher when they rashly removed it from its old 

 associates, and assigned it a place amongst strangers, whose 

 formation differs so widely from its own. 

 Walton Hall, Yorkshire, March 21. 1835. 



Art. III. Remarks on the Habits of the Canada Goose (A'nser 

 canadensis Willughby). By S. D. W. 



In this neighbourhood [near Derby] we are frequently vi- 

 sited by small flocks of the Canada goose (^4'nser canadensis 

 Willughby), which is a bird, I believe, of very local distribu- 

 tion. They always announce their approach by a loud noise 

 (on the same principle, I suppose, as the guard of a coach 

 sounds his horn on approaching a village), which is far from 

 disagreeable when heard of a still evening, when nought save 

 the cry of the meadow crake (Crex pratensis Bechstein) and 

 the chatter of the sedge brakehopper (Salicaria phragmitis 

 Selby) disturb the silence which reigns beneath the diamond- 

 studded azure vault extended over this " terrestrial ball." 

 This sound of the Canada geese is entirely free from the 

 vulgar twang of the domesticated grey-leg goose (^4'nser pa- 

 lustris Fleming), and is always uttered loudest when they are 

 on the wing, their long black necks being extended to their 

 utmost length, horizontal with their bodies. After wheeling 

 two or three times round the piece of water near the house, 

 they alight and commence grazing. They are very ornamental 

 objects stalking about the lawn, tossing their heads and making 

 curious contortions with their long necks. It frequently hap- 

 pens that two remain when all the rest are flown. After 

 reconnoitring the place for a few days, they usually fix on 

 the corner of an island as their nesting-place. This favourite 

 nook of theirs is not far from where a pair of gallinules (Gal- 

 linula chloropus Latham) year after year rear their young; 

 yet neither goose nor gallinule ever interfere with each other, 

 but keep on very good terms ; nevertheless the former does 



s 4 



