208 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



seen that in some of the cases cited both parent birds 

 and young were ill adapted to the process. This 

 being so, the transportation of a small bird by a 

 much larger one can easily be understood. And, 

 to take one piece of evidence, Dr Rae, the Arctic 

 traveller, had the assertion of the Cree Indians that 

 a small passerine bird regularly availed itself of the 

 migration of the Canada goose to get a lift on its 

 long journey, and that these tiny wanderers are 

 frequently seen to fly off the backs of the geese when 

 the latter are shot or a gun is fired. The coast 

 Indians devote a month each spring to shooting 

 the Canada geese, and during that time the birds 

 constitute their chief food. Hidden behind a wisp 

 of willows the Indians call to the fowl as they fly 

 over, and in ever-nearing circles the birds descend 

 till within range; and it is from these high-flying 

 geese that the tiny voyagers are seen to rise. 



Dr Rae found no reason to doubt the story of his 

 Indian informants, especially as other Indians a 

 thousand miles to the north-west also spoke of the 

 Canada goose conveying tiny passengers. The 

 immense flocks of quail which still " come up and 

 cover the land " in the East have long been said to 

 be borne on the backs of cranes, which, however, is a 

 myth; though Dr Sennep seriously asserts that 

 numbers of small birds annually find their way into 

 Palestine, being borne by cranes over mountains and 



