GOOSE. 



657 



From this species being called the common wild 

 goose in America, and the grey goose being the 

 common wild goose of Europe, it is not very easy to 

 say which of them is meant, when it is stated that 

 the wild goose freqnents Spitzbergen and the extreme 

 north of Siberia. There is no doubt, however, that 

 the present species ranges to the extreme north of 

 the American continent. Indeed, if what Pennant 

 records of them be true, their breeding places in 

 America are farther north than any which are regu- 

 larly inhabited by Europeans, or much frequented by 

 the hunters during the summer. " The English at 

 Hudson's Bay," says Pennant in the Arctic Zoology, 

 " depend greatly on geese, and in favourable years 

 kill three or four thousand, and barrel them up for 

 use. They send out their servants, as well as 

 Indians, to shoot these birds on their passage. It is 

 in vain to pursue them. They therefore form a row 

 of huts, made of boughs, at musket-shot distance 

 from each other, and place them in a line across the 

 vast marshes of the country. Each stand, or hovel, 

 as they are called, is occupied by only a single per- 

 son. These attend the flight of the birds, and, on 

 their approach, mimic their cackle so well, that the 

 geese will answer, and wheel, and come nearer the 

 stand. The sportsman keeps motionless, and on his 

 knees, with his gun cocked trie whole time, and never 

 fires till he has seen the eyes of the geese. He fires 

 as they are going from him, then picks up another 

 gun that lies by him, and discharges that. The 

 geese that he has killed he sets upon sticks, as if 

 alive, to decoy others. He also makes artificial birds 

 for the same purpose. In a good day, for they fly in 

 very uncertain and unequal numbers, a single Indian 

 will kill two hundred. Notwithstanding that every spe- 

 cies of goose has a different call, yet the Indians are 

 admirable in their imitations of every one. The 

 autumnal flight lasts from the middle of August to 

 the middle of October. Those which are taken in 

 this season, when the frosts begin, are preserved in 

 their feathers, and left to be frozen for the fresh pro- 

 visions of the winter stock. The feathers constitute 

 an article of commerce, and are sent to England. 

 The vernal flight of the geese lasts from the middle 

 of April until the middle of May. Their first appear- 

 ance coincides with the thawing of the swamps, when 

 they are very lean. Their arrival from the south is 

 impatiently attended ; it is the harbinger of the 

 spring, and the month named by the Indians the 

 goose moon. They appear usually at their settle- 

 ments about St. George's day, O.S., and fly north- 

 ward, to nestle in security. They prefer islands to 

 the continent, as farther from the haunts of man." 



This species of goose shows equal disposition to 

 be domesticated as the wild goose of Europe, if, 

 indeed, not greater. It has accordingly been domes- 

 ticated in many parts of America, and also in Eng- 

 land, and various other parts of Europe. The follow- 

 ing extract from Wilson will enable the reader to 

 contrast the manners of the Canada goose with those 

 of the wild goose of Europe : " The flight of the 

 wild geese," says he, " is heavy and laborious, gene- 

 rally in a straight line, or in two lines approximating 

 to a point. In both cases the van is led by an old 

 gander, who, every now and then, pipes his well- 

 known honk, as if to usk how they come on ; and the 

 houk of" all's well " is generally returned by some of 

 the part}-. Their course is in a straight line, with the 

 exception of the undulations of their flight. When 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. II. 



bewildered in foggy weather, they appear sometimes 

 to be in great distress, flying about in an irregular 

 manner, and for a considerable time, over the same 

 quarter, making a great clamour. On these occasions, 

 should they approach the earth, and alight, which 

 they sometimes do, to rest and recollect themselves, 

 the only hospitality they meet with is death and de- 

 struction from a whole neighbourhood, already in 

 arms for their ruin. Wounded geese have, in nume- 

 rous instances, been completely domesticated, and 

 pair with the tame grey geese. The offspring are 

 said to be larger than either, but the characteristic 

 marks of the wild goose still predominate. The gun- 

 ners on the sea-shore have long been in the practice 

 of taming the wounded of both sexes, and have some- 

 times succeeded in getting them to pair and produce. 

 The female always seeks out the most solitary place 

 for her nest, not far from the water. On the ap- 

 proach of every spring, however, these birds discover 

 symptoms of great uneasiness, frequently looking up 

 into the air, and attempting to go off. Some, whose 

 wings have been closely cut, have travelled on foot in. 

 a northern direction, and have been found at the dis- 

 tance of several miles from home. They hail every 

 flock that passes overhead, and the salute is sure to 

 be returned by the voyagers, who are only prevented 

 from alighting among them by the presence and 

 habitations of man. The gunners take one or two 

 of these domesticated geese with them to those parts 

 of the marshes over which the wild ones are accus- 

 tomed to fly, and, concealing themselves within gun- 

 shot, wait tor a flight, which is no sooner perceived 

 by the decoy-geese than they begin calling aloud 

 until the whole flock approaches so near as to give 

 them an opportunity of discharging two, and some- 

 times three loaded muskets among it, by which great 

 havoc is made." 



It is not very often that this species of goose makes 

 its appearance in England in the wild state. When 

 they do come, they come in considerable numbers, 

 true to their gregarious character, and they come 

 after very severe and long-continued storms, about 

 the depth of winter. On their arrival they are very 

 much exhausted, and easily taken ; and cases are men- 

 tioned in which a whole flock has been taken alive 

 and shared among the farmers, where they at once 

 associated with the common domesticated geese, and 

 showed no disposition to migrate, or even to escape. 



THE SNOW GOOSE (A. hyperborea). This is another 

 Nortli American species, and, as the name imports, 

 belongs to the far north of that country. The old and 

 the young have been described as different birds, 

 and in some instances they have been confounded 

 with other geese which appear to have their native 

 locality different. It is to be understood that the 

 native locality of a migrant bird is that in which it 

 nestles, and this one appears to abound nearly round 

 the whole shores of the North Sea, or, at all events, 

 from Hudson's Bay westward to Nova Zembla. It is 

 here worthy of remark, that the longitude of Nova 

 Zembla, which is sixty degrees, or four hours of time 

 east of Greenwich, is the point of division between 

 the two sections of polar migrant birds, just as the 

 North Sea is the counter division, and the average of 

 this, in the polar latitudes, is just about as many de- 

 grees of longitude west as the former point is east ; 

 so that one-<hird of the circumference belongs to what 

 may be called the European section, and two-thirds 

 to what mav be called the Asiatic and the American. 

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