LIFE HISTORIEiS OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 213 



where suitable food can be found in abundance, feedin<!: durinir the 

 daytime if not too much disturbed, or at ni^ht, if necessary, in 

 localities where it would be unsafe to feed in dayli^i^ht. The feedin^^ 

 flocks are guarded by one or more sentinels, which are ever oti the 

 alert until they are relieved by some of their companions and allowed 

 to take their turns at feeding. Their eyesight is very keen and 

 their sense of hearing very acute. They are very wary at such times 

 and among the most difficult of birds to approach; at a warning 

 note from the watchful sentry every head is raised and with eyes 

 fixed on the approaching enemy they await the proper time for tak- 

 ing their departure. Geese are very regular in their feeding habits, 

 resorting day after day to the same feeding grounds if they are not 

 too much disturbed; they prefer to feed for a few hours in the 

 early morning, flying in to their feeding grounds before sunrise and 

 again for an hour or two before sunset, spending the middle of the 

 day resting on some sandbar or on some large body of water. 



While on their spring migration overland wild geese often do con- 

 siderable damage to sprouting grain, such as wheat, corn, barley, 

 and oats ; nipping off the tender shoots does no great harm, but they 

 are not always content with such careful pruning and frequently 

 pull up the kernel as well. They also nibble at the fresh shoots of 

 growing grasses and other tender herbage, nipping them off side- 

 ways, cleanly and quickly- 



Aububon (1840) says that "after rainy weather, they are fre- 

 quently seen rapidly patting the earth with both feet, as if to force 

 the earthworms from their burrows." Farther north, where they 

 meet winter just retreating, they find the last year's crop of berries 

 uncovered by the melting snow in a fair state of preservation and 

 various buds are swelling fresh and green. Later on some animal 

 food becomes available, insects and their larvae, crustaceans, small 

 clams and snails, and probably some small fishes. In the marshes 

 they feed on wild rice, arrowhead, sedges, marsh grasses, and vari- 

 ous acjuatic plants, eating the roots as well as the leaves and shoots. 

 On the fall migration they again frequent the grain fields to pick uj) 

 the fallen grain, pull up the stubble, and nibble at what green herb- 

 age they can find. They resort to the shallow ponds and borders 

 of lakes to feed after the manner of the surface-feeding ducks, reach- 

 ing down to the bottom with their long necks and even tipping up 

 with their feet in the air, in their attempts to reach the succulent 

 roots and the tender water plants. On the coast in winter they pre- 

 fer to feed in fresh or brackish water on the leaves, blades, and 

 fruits of marine plants, sucli as Zostera marina^ the sea lettuce 

 {TJlva lactuca) and various Algae. Probably some small moUusks, 

 crustaceans, and other small marine animals are taken at the same 

 time. 



