THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 243 



as he killed and roasted the object of his affections, the 

 Canadian gander immediately selected another leman, in- 

 variably the ugliest of the surviving females. One short, 

 squat, rough-feathered, ill-marked goose, with a thick 

 bill and a great grey topknot, was his special favorite. 

 When the Michaelmas murders had extirpated the 

 whole race he so admired, he returned reluctantly and 

 coldly to his former love. The best remedy in such a 

 case is to divorce them at once, and exchange one out of 

 the pair for another bird. 



A similar incident is related in the seventh volume of 

 the "American Agriculturist," by Col. Minot Thayer, of 

 Braintree, Massachusetts, in the following words : " A 

 few years since, a neighbor of mine shot at a flock while 

 passing to the south, wounded one in the wing, took him 

 alive, and very soon domesticated him. He soon became 

 very tame, and went with the other geese. I bought 

 him, and kept him three years, and then mated him with 

 an old native goose. They had several broods of young 

 ones, and the old goose became very feeble ; so much 

 so, that she could not sit long enough to hatch out her 

 eggs. I accordingly put them under another goose, where 

 they did very well. In the fall of the year, I gave her 

 away, and mated the wild gander with another. In the 

 spring following, about six months after, I heard that the 

 old goose had got better, and was in good health. She 

 was brought home and put into my poultry yard. The 

 wild gander and his new mate were at a distance of 

 about eighty rods, in another pasture. As soon as the 

 old goose was put into the yard, she made a loud noise, 

 which the wild gander heard. He immediately left his 

 new mate, and came down to the yard, recognised his 

 old mate, entered into close conversation, and appeared 

 extremely happy in seeing her again. His other mate 

 followed him, and wished to join the party, but he ap- 

 peared much offended, treated her with the greatest 

 indifference, and drove her from him 



