WILD GEESE 185 



hoped that determined and carefully directed scientific ex- 

 periments will be made. In view of the fact that pinioning 

 evidently tends to retard breeding, the best way to begin 

 such experiments would probably be to secure trapped or 

 netted birds which have not been injured, and merely clip 

 the wing, repeating this procedure in mid-summer and after 

 completing the moult. If young should be secured, they 

 could be pinioned when small without injury, the same as 

 ducklings. 



Keeping Geese. The actual keeping of wild geese is 

 quite simple. All they need is a small pond, marsh, or sec- 

 tion of a brook, enclosed with a wire fence. The fence 

 should have i-inch mesh wire at the ground about 2 feet 

 high, to keep out such vermin as minks, which are very 

 destructive. The rest may be of ordinary coarse fencing, 

 high enough to keep out dogs and foxes, at least 6 feet in all. 

 A fair amount of grass land should be in the enclosure, as 

 geese are great grazers. In fact vegetation and its roots, 

 especially grass, forms the chief article of diet. They are 

 also fed grain of any sort, or mixed, and this is all they re- 

 quire. Each fall plant part of the field where they breed 

 with winter rye, which furnishes the best food for them and 

 the young. No animal food is necessary, unless it should 

 be found so in experiments as suggested above. Nor is 

 shelter needed, unless it be a hedge or windbreak on shore, 

 and perhaps a bower to stand under, which, like enough, 

 they would not care to use. Usually they are able to keep 

 a hole in the ice open all winter in which to swim, and they 

 surely can with a little assistance in the worst cold-snaps. 

 They are the hardiest of birds, and cold and storm have no 

 terror for them. 



Keep Separate. Geese are quarrelsome birds, and 

 should be by themselves in the breeding season. During 



