188 



Sir W. Jardine observes, in a note in his edition of 

 Wilson's American Ornithology, " On the beautiful piece 

 of water at Gosford House, the seat of the Earl of We- 

 myss, Haddingtonshire, the Canadian Goose and many 

 other water birds rear their young freely. I have never 

 seen any artificial piece of wzfter so beautifully adapted for 

 the domestication and introduction of every kind of water 

 fowl which will bear the climate of Great Britain. Of 

 very large extent, it is embossed in beautiful shrubbery, 

 perfectly recluse, and, even in the nearly constant ob- 

 servance of a resident family, several exotic species seem 

 to look on it as their own. The Canadian and Egyptian 

 Geese both had young when I visited it, and the lovely 

 Anas (Dendronessa) sponsa* seemed as healthy as if in 

 her native waters." 



Canada Geese produced and reared their young in the 

 gardens of the Zoological Society in 1835, and a pair be- 

 longing to the Ornithological Society were productive in 

 St. James's Park during the season of 1841. The egg is 

 of a dull white colour, measuring three inches four lines 

 in length, and two inches four lines in breadth. The 

 young were observed to grow very rapidly. Willughby, 

 whose Ornithology was published in 1678, says of the 

 Canada Goose, " The name shows the place whence it 

 comes. We saw and described both this and the Spur- 

 winged Goose among the King's wild-fowl in St. James's 

 Park." 



The Canada Goose goes to very high northern latitudes 

 in summer. Captain Phipps mentions having seen Wild 

 Geese feeding at the water's edge, on the dreary coast of 

 Spitzbergen, in latitude 80 27' ; but these might be Bean 

 Geese, which are known to go there. They are found 

 during summer in Greenland. They inhabit the northern 

 * The Summer Duck, or Wood Duck of America. 



