62 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



ments about St. George's Day, O. S., ajid fly northward to nes- 

 tle in security. They prefer islands to the continent, as farthei 

 from the haunts of man. After such prodigious havoc as thus 

 appears to be made among these birds, and the running the 

 gauntlet, if I may so speak, for many hundreds of miles through 

 such destructive fires, no wonder they should have become more 

 scarce, as well as shy, by the time they reach the shores of the 

 United States. 



" Their first arrival on the coast of New Jersey is early in 

 October, and their first numerous appearance is the sure prog- 

 nostic of severe weather. Those which continue all winter, fre- 

 quent the shallow bays and marsh islands, the principal food 

 being the broad tender green leaves of a marine plant, which 

 gi'ows on stones and shells, and is usually called sea-cabbage ; 

 and also the roots of the sedge, which they are frequently ob- 

 served in the act of tearing up. Every few days they make an 

 excursion to the inlets on the beach for gravel. They cross in- 

 discriminately over land or water, generally taking the nearest 

 course to their object, differing in this respect from the Brant, 

 which will often go a great way round by water, rather than 

 cross on the land. They swim well, and if wing-broke, dive 

 and go a long way under water, causing the sportsman a great 

 deal of fatigue before he can kill them. Except in very calm 

 weather, they rarely sleep on the water, but roost all night in 

 the marshes. When the shallow bays are frozen, they seek the 

 mouth of inlets near the sea, occasionally visiting the air-holes 

 in the ice ; but these bays are seldom so completely frozen, as 

 to prevent them from feeding on the bars. 



" The flight of the Wild Geese is heavy and laboriovxs, gene- 

 rally in a straight line, or in twq lines approximating to a point, 

 thus f> ; 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 undulations of the flight. Wlien bewil- 

 dered in foggy weather, they appear sometimes to be in great 



