JACK MINEK NATURAL NATXTRALIST 67 



They come into the pond in great numbers and allow 

 even strangers to approach within a few feet of them 

 while they are feeding or resting. This enclosure is not 

 to exceed 250 feet square. The pool, which has recently 

 been slightly improved by a cement curb, is about 150 

 feet long and 110 feet wide. It is estimated that fre- 

 quently there are from eight hundred to a thousand 

 birds there at a time. At a distance of not more than 

 200 yards is a second pool to which the birds come in 

 somewhat larger numbers. At this pool, curiously 

 enough, the birds \vill not pennit anyone sufficiently 

 near for photographing, while many of those flushed at 

 the time will circle and go into the dooryard pond where 

 they can be approached within a few feet without being 

 disturbed. The accompanying photographs were taken 

 by an amateur standing within ten feet of the edge of 

 the pond and without a blind of any sort. 



On Sundays and holidays scores of automobiles and 

 hundreds of people frequently visit Miner's unique pre- 

 serve, and the geese come and go exactly as on other 

 days during their stay. Miner has tagged quite a num- 

 ber of these geese with a brass leg band, having had 

 the permission of the Canadian Government to trap as 

 many as he chose and mark them in that way. He has 

 also tagged many wild mallards and from these and the 

 geese has had returns of large numbers of his marks 



