550 ANSER HYPERBOREUS, SNOW GOOSE. 



of Califoruia, the birds are probably more abundant, in winter, tban 

 anywhere else. Upon their arrival in Octobei-, they are genenilly lean 

 and poorly flavored, doubtless with the fatigue of a long journey ; but 

 they find abundance of suitable food, and soon recuperate. At San 

 Pedro, in Southern California, in November, I saw them every day, and 

 in all sorts of situations — some on the grassy plain, others among the 

 reeds of a little stream or the marshy borders of the bay, otliers on the 

 bare mudflats or the beach itself. Being much harassed, they had 

 grown exceedingly wary, and were suspicious of an a];)proach nearer 

 than several hundred yardi^. Yet with all their sagacity and watchful- 

 ness — traits for which their tribe has been celebrated ever since the 

 original and classic flock saved liome, as it is said — they are sometimes 

 outwitted by very shallow stratagem — the same that I mentioned in 

 speaking of the Speckle-bellies. It is strange, too, that the noise and 

 general appearance of a carriage should not be enough to frighten them, 

 but such is the case. I have driven in a buggy, along the open bea<;h, 

 directly into a flock of Snow Geese, that stood staring agape, " grin- 

 ning" the while, till they were almost under the horse's hoofs: the laziest 

 flock of tame Geese that were ever almost run over in a country by-road 

 were in no less hurry to get out of the way. Advantage is often taken 

 of this ignorance to shoot them from a buggy ; and, though they have 

 not yet learned that anything is to lie dreaded when the rattling affair 

 approaches, yet no doubt experience will prove a good teacher, and its 

 acquirements be transmitted until they become inherent. A wild Goose 

 of any species is a good example of wariness in birds, as distinguished 

 from timidity. A timid bird is frightened at any unusual or unex[)ected 

 appearance, particularly if it be accompanied by noise; while a wary 

 one only flies from what it has learned to distrust or fear, through its 

 acquired perceptions or inherited instincts. Audubon has a paragraph 

 to the point, and one also showing that birds can and do communicate 

 to each other their individual experiences. 



"When the young Snow Geese first arrive in Kentucky, about Hen- 

 derson, for instance, they are unsuspicious, and therefore easily pro- 

 cured. In a half-dry, half-wet pond, running across a large tract of 

 land, on the other side of the river, in the State of Indiana, and which 

 was once my property, I was in the habit of shooting six or seven in a 

 day. This, however, rendered the rest so wild, that the cunning of any 

 'Ked-skin' might have been exercised without success upon them ; and 

 I was sorry to find that they had the power of communicating their 

 sense of danger to the other flocks that arrived. On varying my opera- 

 tions, however, and persevering for some time, I found that even the 

 wildest of them suffered ; for havjng taken it into my head to catch them 

 in huge traps, I tried this method, and several were procured before the 

 rest had learned to seize the bait in a judicious manner." 



Dr. Heermann's notice of this species gives an idea of the immense 

 numbers of the birds in some localities, besides relating a novel method 

 of hunting them. He says they "often cover so densely with their 

 masses the plains in the vicinity ol' the marshes, as to give the ground 

 the appearance of being clothed in snow. Easily approached on horse- 

 back, the natives sometimes near them in this manner, then suddenly 

 putting spurs to their animals, gallop into the flock, striking to the right 

 and left, with short clubs, and trampling them beneath their horses' feet. 

 I have known a native to i)rocure seventeen birds in a single charge of 

 this kind, through a flock covering several acres." 



In Alaska, Mr. Ball states, the Snow Goose is common in the spring, 

 arriving about May 9th, flying ui) the river from the south, and leaving 



