THE CANADA GOOSE. 827 
each goose to look over the wing of the one next preceding, right or left, 
according to the branch of the V which it occupies. The line of march shifts 
and changes under the eye, as the hindmost birds become dissatisfied with 
their positions, and change sides, or as tired leaders give place to fresher 
birds; and the changes are accomplished not without much lordly discussion 
in high-pitched honks. 
In Washington the typical honker is found chiefly east of the Cascade 
Mountains, and it is there a much more familiar object than is the related 
P. c. occidentalis in the Pacific Coast region. It formerly nested in fair 
abundance in the vicinity of all the larger lakes as well as by the rivers, but 
latterly it has been more and more nearly confined in its summer range to the 
valleys of the Columbia and the Snake with their larger tributaries. The 
islands and shores of the two rivers named have been dedicated by the State 
as an asylum for the Geese at all seasons, and their use of these sanctuaries 
both at nesting time and for winter roosting is very gratifying. The nesting 
birds, however, are but a tithe of the winter population and this in turn but a 
small per cent of the birds which pass on in fall and spring after they have 
had a taste of our Washington wheat. 
Like all geese, this species feeds widely upon tender herbage, berries, 
sedge-roots, and such aquatic fare of plants and insects as may chance, but for 
a steady diet the Honker asks no better fare than the spilled grain of the Big 
Bend and Palouse wheatfields in the fall, or the tender sprouts of the Horse 
Heaven country in spring. The Geese are very regular about their meals, 
rising punctually at daybreak and flying inland to feed for two or three hours 
in the grain fields. The middle of the day is passed quietly about some pond 
or in the enjoyment of one-legged slumbers on the sand-bars of the Columbia. 
Hunger drives them to forage again late in the afternoon, usually at the same 
spot visited in the morning, and if undisturbed they may linger somewhat into 
the night. While in flocks, the Geese are exceedingly vigilant and wary, and 
to approach them within gunshot in the open is next to an impossibility. 
Their suspicion of all mankind is deeply planted and freshly watered, but 
the goose psychology works under several limitations. A lone Goose, for 
instance, having none to counsel him, appears at times to be quite incapable of 
making decision and allows the fatal approach of the hunter. The situation is 
still further compromised if the lone bird happens to alight among decoys. 
“It’s plumb scandalous,” reasons the bird, “the man is coming and these birds 
stand here like clods. But they-ought to know; they were here first.’”’ And 
the real bird awaits his doom. Mr. Bowles once killed a perfectly able-bodied 
bird, under such circumstances, with a stone. 
They are not afraid of cattle either, and a pasturing flock may sometimes 
be approached by a hunter who stalks beside a led horse or cow. Sometimes 
a young heifer will resent the intrusion of wild ducks or geese upon her 
