CANADA GOOSE. 353 



mimicking their call, they are brought within gun shot, and 

 the deception is also enhanced by stales and setting up the 

 dead birds on sticks, in living attitudes. Thus in a good day 

 a single native will kill as many as 200. When the frosts 

 begin, the Geese are readily preserved, with the feathers on, 

 in a frozen state, and thus afford a durable supply of fresh 

 provision. The feathers also constitute an article of com- 

 merce. 



In the shallow bays and marshy islands, some continue the 

 whole winter in New Jersey and the Southern States, through 

 which they spread themselves to the very extremity of Florida. 

 Their principal food is the sedge roots and other herbage, 

 they also crop Ulvas and tender marine plants ; and 

 swallow quantities of gravel. They swim with ease and 

 elegance, and when disabled in the wings, dive well, and 

 become difficult to capture. When the shallow bays and 

 ponds are frozen, they seek the mouths of inlets near the 

 sea, in quest of their fare. 



The Canada Goose is now completely domesticated, and 

 is as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in every respect as 

 valuable as the common Grey Goose. Even in Buffon's 

 time, " many hundreds inhabited the great canal at Ver- 

 sailles, where they bred familiarly with the Swans," and he 

 also adds, "there is at present a great number on the mag- 

 nificent pools that decorate the charming gardens of Chan- 

 tilly." The female, in a state of domesticity, still with 

 instinctive caution, seeks out the most solitary place for her 

 nest, not far from the water. They are also extremely 

 watchful, and the gander often very resentful and clamorous 

 against any stranger who happens to approach the place 

 where his consort is breeding. He often engenders with the 

 goose of the common species, and the hybrids are greatly 

 esteemed for the superiority of their flavor. 



The natural desire of periodical migration is strongly 

 30* 



