JIMMY THE GOOSE 63 



his heart went out to them. His decision was quickly 

 made. He ran to them with a cry of welcome. The attrac- 

 tion seemed mutual so he mated with both, and then was 

 perfectly contented to remain on the farm and finally to 

 run with the flock. For several years he lived the life 

 of a domestic goose, and Aunt Leah, feeling sure that he 

 would not leave his humble mates, never afterward went 

 to the trouble of cropping his wing. He became the father 

 of many hybrid geese that at first were the joy of Aunt 

 Leah's heart, but when she found that they were mules 

 and would not breed, her interest waned. True, they were 

 handsome geese, larger than either parent. They had the 

 beautiful black head and upper neck of the Canada wild 

 goose with a larger and heavier body. Their feathers were 

 flexible and thick like those of their wild parent, with an 

 abimdance of down — just the kind of feathers to delight a 

 feather merchant. Nevertheless finally they were all sold 

 to the butcher, and poor unfortunate Jimmy was placed 

 in a city park where he remained, apparently desolate, the 

 last I heard of him. 



You may be interested to know more about Jimmy's 

 relatives. We have several species of wild geese in our 

 coimtry. Jimmy was a Canada wild goose. Those geese 

 are especially characterized by the fact tha*t the upper 

 part of the neck and the head are black with large white 

 cheek patches. They are active birds and fly long dis- 

 tances, often flying fifty or sixty miles in an hour. They 

 still breed by the thousands in some parts of the North- 

 land. When I was a boy I have seen them in huge flocks, 

 especially on the Eepublican and Platte rivers in Nebraska. 

 In our old home in southeastern Iowa it was a common 

 thing for these birds to alight in the wheat or cornfields 



