158 



THE OSPKEY. 



for long for when the Wild Geese had had their 

 fill their leader led them ofl again, his little 

 Hock following liim in perfect order. Mr. Be< b< 

 was astonished at the way hi- flock had been 

 increased, but his astonishment was greater 

 when the day wore on and the usual visitors 

 came to the shores to watch the geese without 

 producing any commotion among the Wild < reese. 

 All day long he and the keepers kept their eyes 

 on the pond jus( to note what did finally move 

 the gander to call his Bock and head for the 

 south again but the expected did not happen. 

 For two ilav- the Wild Geese sailed about the 

 pond at perfect liberty, enduring the gaze of 

 visitors and seemingly undisturbed by it. Un- 

 like the other geese they did not do much walk- 

 ing mi land but kept either in the water or on 

 the bank which the visitors do not have access 

 to. 



When Saturday came and the visitors showed 

 no sign >>f departure, Mr. Beebe decided on a 

 bold experiment. His plan was to try and cap- 

 ture them, for even one wild goose as a per- 

 manent guest would be a valuable acquisition 

 to the collection and make it a unique one. 

 With his assistants he rigged up a wire cage on 

 the shore, s x 15 feet in size. Inside this he 

 mad.- a -mailer cage anil in this he put two ol 

 his lame geese with plenty of food. The out- 

 side cage was made with a door which the pull 

 of a cord would close. An assistant was sta- 

 tioned a hundred feet away and at a signal from 

 those watching the geese he was to pull the 

 cord. It was a long time after the Wild Geese 

 discovered the cage that any of them could be 

 induced to enter, but this was perhaps because 

 the tame geese with their superior knowledge of 

 the artifices of man would not go near the cage. 

 The big gander of the wild flock whom the men 

 about the Park named McKinley because he 

 arrived on the morning after election, alter 

 looking the cage well over, finally ventured in. 

 He gol about a foot inside and then something 

 excited his distrust and he made a precipitate 

 retreat. This happened several times. Finally, 

 after two hours' waiting, Mr. Beebe and his as- 

 sistants finally saw tile big fellow enter and 

 proceed to pick up food very cautiously at Brst 

 but gathering reassurance as he enjoyed the 

 meal. His Mock, seeing him satisfied, followed 

 and six of them went in farther than he did. 

 The gander with two of his Hock kept near the 

 door and their alertness was shown when at the 

 first pull of the cord they were up and away. 

 leaving their six mates prisoners. When the 

 gander discovered that those could no longer 

 follow him he was furious and sailed up to the 

 cage flapping his wings and making his peculiar 

 cry. The winy- of the six captured ones were 

 clipped and they were turned loo,,-. 



Then a verj peculiar thing was observed to 

 happen. Instead of joining their own Hock the 

 captured one-, after ■< short time accepted the 

 leadership of the other gander and took their 

 places in his Rock. Since their capture they 

 have been seen always with the flock of tame 

 geese and never with their three old companions 

 who are still free to fly away much to the regret 

 of Mr. Beebe and the helpers. The reason for 

 this change of allegiance on the part of tin- -i\ 



wild geese whose wings have been clipped, Mr- 



Iieebe -ays. lies in the fact that they found 

 themselves unable to keep pace with the move 

 ments of the wild gander and hence joined the 

 geese whose wings had been .-lipped ami with 

 which they were always sure of keeping Up. 

 lint the wild gander has not accepted the change 

 yet. Wherever his six former followers are he 

 will now and then paddle up to them and with a 

 great fluttering of his wings ami an air-split- 

 ting "honk" he will rise In the air followed by 

 the two uncaptured ones. The six each time 

 this happen- make desperate efforts to rise, too 

 but all to no purpose, High in the air the gan- 

 der will sometimes go and circle around but 

 when he sees tin- other- do not follow him, he 

 always return-, often to try the same perfor- 

 mance all over again. The other two free geese 

 still at liberty keep him company and hold aloof 

 from the other- except wh.-n their leader is try- 

 ing to reclaim his l..-t followers. Then they 

 add their shrieks to his and do all in their power 

 to encourage by their example the six unfortu- 

 nate ones. 

 Mr. Beebe i- ••( the opinion that the gander 



and the two geese will stay by their friends 

 until they hear the cries of another Hock pass- 

 ing overhead and then, realizing thai their old 

 companion- are lost, they will be oil to the 

 south wai'd. 



Mr. Iieebe says the gander i- worth all the 

 others captured and a good many tame one- ,i - 

 well, and determined efforts are still being made 

 to capture him. There is no chance of doing 

 this by mean- of tin- cage, for ever since hi- ex- 

 perience in that he has refused to go near it. 

 Some of the men who care for the fowls have 

 had experience in snaring bird-, however, and 

 they are going to n \ to gel Mr. McKinley and 

 his remaining follower- in this way. Their 

 plan is to lay about 300 snare- for them. It is 

 believed the capture will be accomplished pro- 

 vined another Hock does not entice them away 

 before the -i i a re- are ready. Mr. Iieebe said the 

 other day that the capture of the wild geese 

 would mean that the geese in the Park would 

 be for years the fines! anywhere. f..r the reason 

 that they would hatch more eggs and their 

 goslings would be as line as themselves. 



on Tin-: Longevity of thb Gull. By Theo- 

 dore Gill, Washington, D. C. In the OsprKV 

 for June, 1899, is the reprint from the /to nf a 

 long article -on the comparative aye- to which 

 bird- live" by Mr. J. II. Gurney. Cull- are 

 therein iiip.i4ii.l-ti mentioned which had at- 

 tained ages ran einy from 2] to 44 years. Several 

 other instance- of longevity and partial domes- 

 tication of individuals of that group have been 

 elsewhere recorded. An interesting instance 

 illustrative of longevity, as well as the extent to 

 which they may be familiarized, was published 

 over a century ago, and was met with inciden- 

 tally during the examination of the volume for 

 ■ mother purpose. It was in an article "on the 

 longevity of animals" in "The American Mu- 

 seum" of Philadelphia for the year 1792, (vol. 12. 



pp. 208-2 The article was only subscribed "J. 



A." and it- value i- materially impaired by the 

 fact that places and dates are not mentioned. 



