GEESE. 257 



235. CANADA GOOSE. 



Larger, 40; brown above and on head 

 and neck; patch on cheeks usually meeting 

 on throat, and beneath white; head and neck, 

 black, fig. 201. Breeds in northern U. S. 

 and Canada; south in Nov. to winter from 

 Md. to Fla. and Mex.; north in March. 

 Flight rather rapid but with slow wing- 

 beats; moves in lines or Vs but never masses 

 in front. Cries loud and sonorous. 



The Canada Goose is frequently domes- 

 ticated and breeds readily if kept in suffi- 

 ciently large enclosures. In order to keep 

 it from migrating, however, after the first 

 year one wing should be clipped. It asso- 

 ciates with the common domesticated Geese 

 and the ganders sometimes take charge of 

 their young, but it does not appear to hy- 

 bredize with other geese. The cries, given 

 continuously in flight, as a call to keep 

 members of the flock to straggling; are 

 also uttered when the birds are on the 

 ground. 



