234 Wild Birds 



seldom fails to drive the birds high in the air, and not infre- 

 quently kills them. They even enter the camps and would fain 

 eat from the hands of the men while at their meals.'.' 



Possibly no bird has keener vision or sharper ears than the 

 Canada Goose, which in its wild state is said to be vigilant, 

 suspicious, and hard to be surprised, yet it is often easily and 

 quickly tamed. There were in Cleveland nearly forty of these 

 geese, which were descended from a smaller number introduced 

 about thirty years ago. Their migratory impulse was com- 

 pletely lost, and their sense of fear subdued, but their other wild 

 instincts remained. They lived mostly in the parks, going from 

 one to another as the spirit moved them, and bred on the small 

 artificial islands in artificial ponds. I often heard their honk ! 

 as they flew over the city at night or in early morning, and saw 

 their "harrow" or "triangle" which plowed the air by day 

 often within bow-shot from Euclid Avenue. 



When the birds were feeding on a lawn you could walk 

 among them and drive them like a flock of tame geese, but they 

 hated dogs and took to wing or water the moment one was seen 

 to approach. They once had the habit of alighting on the roof 

 of a tall building near Wade Park, but after one of their number 

 met with the mishap of falling down a ventilating shaft this 

 practice seems to have been abandoned. 



On one of his shooting excursions Audubon shot a wild goose, 

 and on his return sent it to the kitchen to be prepared for the 

 table. The cook brought him an egg ready to be laid. This 

 was placed under a hen, and in due time produced a bird, which 

 became very gentle and would feed from the hand. When two 

 years old it mated and reared a family. 



We have seen how fear may vanish before the surge of the 

 parental impulse which impels a bird to seek, nourish, and 

 defend its offspring, even at the risk of life itself, and will now 

 consider how this instinct may be used in taming wild birds at 

 the nest and in bringing them to the hand. 



If young birds of those species in which the parental in- 

 stincts are very strong are taken from the nest when nearly 

 ready to fly, the old birds, especially if they be among the class 



