240 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 



PAIRING, BREEDING, AND MANAGEMENT. 



IN the month of November, it is recommended that 

 every flock of wild geese be reduced to two pairs, (or at 

 least three pairs,) in order to guard against accidents to 

 one. Such birds should be retained, as differ as much, 

 in age, as maybe consistent with their breeding powers ; 

 and also, if possible, those should be selected which have 

 been observed to entertain a mutual dislike, in order that 

 they may fix their nests at a distance from each other. 

 They should previously have become attached to their 

 keeper, though not to their co-mates, that they may 

 suffer him to approach and feed them and their goslings 

 liberally, and so bring them into thoroughly good con- 

 dition by killing time. 



The stock bird ought to be well supplied with grain 

 or Indian corn during winter, when the grass grows little 

 or not at all, to promote early laying; but they usually 

 have a few kernels of barley or maize thrown down to 

 them now and then. No one can blame them, if they 

 occasionally stray out of bounds in search of food ; but 

 they are then accused of restlessness, shyness, and so on. 

 It is no migratory impulse that sets them on the move, 

 but over-crowding and under-feeding; in proof of which, 

 they will generally return of their own accord. I am 

 speaking of birds that have been bred in captivity for 

 several generations. Give them room and food enough, 

 and they will stay contentedly at home. Curtail their sup- 

 plies, and they become like "darkness," in Spoffbth's weil- 

 known glee ; " flies away" is ever and again the burden 

 of their song. The Canada goose is a very large bird, 

 and cannot be expected to live and get fat upon air. If 

 a farmer's wife were to treat her turkeys as the Canada 

 goslings are usually served, they would at Christmas 

 be just as tough, stringy, and uneatable, if indeed they 

 survived the pinching regimen so long. The growing 

 goslings must sensibly miss the abundance of their native 

 breeding places, when confined to these short commons ; 

 and it is not just in us, after such neglect and penurious- 

 ness on our part, to complain that they neither fat well 

 nor reproduce at an early age. 



