CANADA GOOSE 



1138 



CANADA THISTLE 



in the region stretching from the northern 

 limit of tree growth in the lo\ver Yukon valley 

 as far south as Indiana. No member of its 

 race has more interesting migratory habits than 

 this bird of passage. When autumn heralds 



CANADA GOOSE 



the approach of winter vast numbers from the 

 fur-bearing sections of Canada assemble along 

 the shores of Hudson Bay, and as the increasing 

 cold drives them to seek a sunnier home, 

 great flocks, arranged in long, converging lines, 

 with an old gander at the head, begin their 

 southward flight. 



These living wedges of feathered travelers 

 fly high in the air, the loud, hoarse "honk" of 

 the leader and the answering calls of his fol- 

 lowers often being the only sounds that break 

 the silence of the solitary regions through which 

 they pass. Early in October they reach the 

 coasts of the Eastern and Middle states, and 

 through the winter are found in various warmer 

 parts of the Union, even to the most southern 

 portion of Florida. Their food is chiefly grass 

 and berries. 



The Canada goose is about thirty-six inches 

 long, and wears a grayish-brown coat. The 

 head, neck and tail are black, the under parts 

 gray, and there is a broad white patch on the 

 throat. The nest, which is usually placed on 

 the ground, is made loosely of twigs and grass, 

 and holds from five to seven pale green or 

 white eggs. As this bird is much sought by 

 hunters, because of the delicacy of its flesh, 

 it is included in the list of game birds which 

 are protected by law during the greater part 

 of the year. -The Canada goose has been intro- 

 duced into Europe. B.M.W. 



CANADA THISTLE 



CANADA THISTLE, a variety of thistle that 

 more than all others of its family deserves 

 the name of pest, for it is one of the most 

 troublesome weeds in existence. A native of 

 Europe, it reached Canada and the United 

 States through 

 the mingling of 

 its seed with im- 

 ported grains, 

 and now grows in 

 wild profusion 

 from Newfound- 

 land south to Vir- 

 ginia and west to 

 the great plains, a 

 most unwelcome 

 visitor in the 

 farmer's fields. 

 Nature has given 

 it the best possi- 

 ble weapons with 

 which to maintain 

 a successful bat- 

 tle for existence 

 against its enemy, 

 man. Within the tubes of its small purplish 

 flowers is formed a sweet nectar, which at- 

 tracts countless bees and butterflies, wasps, 

 flies and beetles. The pollen grains have 

 a slight stickiness and are carried away with 

 the greatest ease on the hairs of the insects, 

 to be later deposited on the stigma of another 

 flower. The plant also is well adapted to 

 fertilization by means of its seeds and its 

 horizontal rootstocks, every portion of which 

 can produce a new plant. For this reason, par- 

 tial uprooting may work harm, for several 

 plants may spring up where only one grew. 



Fields where this thistle appears can be 

 cleared of it only by the most thorough culti- 

 vation, for the rootstocks must be entirely 

 rooted out, and before the plant goes to seed. 

 If the weed gets into the field of a plant that 

 is not cultivated, as oats or grass, it will gain 

 such headway that the land w r ill have to be 

 cultivated the next season and planted to a 

 different grain. Sometimes the farmer turns 

 a field infested by thistles into a sheep pasture 

 and lets the sheep aid him in ridding the land 

 of the troublesome visitor. 



The plant is slender and branching, and 

 grows from one to three feet in height. The 

 prickly leaves are long, sword-shaped and 

 deeply notched, and grow close together on the 

 stem. See THISTLE; SEEDS, subtitle Seed Dis- 

 persal. 



