244 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



make the bird very welcome had they no value other- 

 wise, or forever kept beyond the rifle's range. 



Of the seven or eight species of geese found in 

 this country, the Canada Goose and Brant on the 

 Atlantic coast and the White-fronted and Snow 

 Goose on the Pacific side are probably the most 

 abundant. These birds all breed in the far north, 

 and enter the United States in autumn and return in 

 spring. 



In the more densely settled regions, even where 

 there are no large towns upon our river-banks for 

 many miles, the appearance of geese on our Eastern 

 rivers is not any more a common occurrence. It is 

 true that these birds are killed every autumn by profes- 

 sional gunners, but the flocks that fly over far exceed 

 in number the few that tarry even for a day. Con- 

 trary winds and dense fogs sometimes force the mi- 

 grating geese to stop where they would never volun- 

 tarily halt, as in open fields, on mill-ponds, and in the 

 river within sight of town. Such haps on their part 

 generally prove to be mishaps. It is along the sea- 

 coast, or in the far West, along the great river val- 

 leys, that wild geese are to be seen in their glory, 

 and when followed persistently by the professional 

 gunners, in their misery. Wilson says of the Canada 

 goose, in part, as follows : 



" The flight of the Wild Geese is heavy and laborious, generally 

 in a straight line, or in two lines approximating to a point, thus > ; 

 in both cases the van is led by an old gander, who every now and 

 then pipes his well-known honk, as if to ask how they come on, and 

 the honk of ' all's well' is generally returned by some of the party. 

 Their course is in a straight line, with the exception of the undula- 

 tions of their flight. When bewildered in foggy weather they appear 



