CANADA GOOSE. 297 



whose possession they have remained ever since. They 

 associate with his domesticated Grey Lag Geese, and are very 

 peaceable." The hxte Charles Waterton has given an inter- 

 esting account of a similar nature, respecting a flock of pure 

 and half-bred birds, which annually visited Walton Hall, 

 followed by an amusing description of the union of a female 

 of this species with a male Bernacle. Montagu had observed 

 that the Canada Goose will breed with the common species, 

 and it has also bred with the Knobbed Goose. 



Sir W. Jardine observes, in a note to his edition of 

 Wilson's American Ornithology, " On the beautiful piece of 

 water at Gosford House, the seat of the Earl of Wemyss, 

 Haddingtonshire, the Canadian Goose and many other 

 water birds rear their young freely. I have never seen any 

 artificial piece of water so beautifully adapted for the domesti- 

 cation and introduction of every kind of water-fowl which 

 will bear the climate of Great Britain. Of very large extent, 

 it is embossed in beautiful shrubbery, perfectly recluse, and, 

 even in the nearly constant observance of a resident family, 

 several exotic species seem to look on it as their own. The 

 Canadian and Egyptian Geese both had young when I 

 visited it, and the lovely American Wood Duck, Aiv sponsa, 

 seemed as healthy as if in her native waters." Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, jun., states that in Norfolk at least a hundred 

 Canada Geese live unpinioned on Gunton Lake, and there are 

 a great many more in the parks at Holkham, Blickling, and 

 Melton. Similar instances might be multiplied indefinitely ; 

 but, believing as the Editor does, that all the Canada Geese 

 shot in Great Britain have resulted from artificial introduc- 

 tion, he considers it unnecessary to enumerate any more of 

 the counties in which individuals of this species have paid 

 the usual penalty for straggling. Single birds and flocks 

 have occurred in Scotland, and in the Orkneys. In Ireland, 

 where the Goose is also kept in semi-captivity, but in far 

 smaller numbers than in England, its occurrences are dis- 

 proportionally rare, notwithstanding the comparative prox- 

 imity of that island to North America ! 



The Canada Goose appears to vary enormously in size, 



VOL. IV. Q Q 



