THE 



CANADIAN 



MTUEALIST AND GEOLOGIST. 



Vol. YI. OCTOBER, 1861. No. 5. 



ARTICLE XXIV. — Recollections of the Swans and Geese of Hud- 

 son's Bay. By George Barnston, Esq., of the Hon. Hudson's 

 Bay Company. 



(Read before the Montreal Natural History Society.) 



The birds comprising the two Genera Cygnus and Anser^ are, with 

 slight exception, the largest of the palmipedes or web-footed fowls 

 found in North America, and being generally diflScult of approach, 

 and at same time highly prized as an article of food, any account 

 of their migrations and habits becomes interesting. Of the many 

 who may have enjoyed the relish of a well-seasoned wild goose at 

 the sumptuous banquet, few are aware of the distance the bird may 

 have travelled, or of the many perils, by flood and field, through 

 which it may have passed. 



On the coast of Hudson's Bay their manners may be studied to 

 great advantage. There they repose after a long and fatiguing 

 flight, there they enjoy a perfect surfeit on the juicy roots of the 

 swamps, and the tender sprouting herbage of the boundless downs . 

 and there assembled in mass along the sea-girt shore, they follow 

 the never-varying course of the points and headlands, that stand 

 out revealed as the line of march of all their ancestors who have 

 gone before them. 



Can. Nat. 1 Vol. VI. No. 5. 



