182 ANATHLE. 



themselves for this purpose, without requiring or receiving 

 either care or food from man, that the Canada Goose 

 seems to be entitled to a place in this work. The bird 

 from which Mr. Bewick drew his figure of this species was 

 shot at St. Germain's in Cornwall, where two or three 

 other examples have also been shot ; and Mr. E. H. Rodd, 

 of Penzance, sent me word some time ago, that the Canada 

 Goose had been shot on the Scilly Islands. I have known 

 several shot at different times in Hampshire. The Rev. 

 Leonard Jenyns observes that large flocks have been ob- 

 served in the fens of Cambridgeshire in a state of liberty 

 and independence, and some of them have been killed in 

 more than one instance. A writer in the Magazine of 

 Natural History, vol. viii. p. 255, says, " in this neigh- 

 bourhood (near Derby) we are frequently visited by small 

 flocks of the Canada Goose, Anser Canadensis, Willughby, 

 which is a bird, I believe, of very local distribution. They 

 always announce their approach by a loud noise, and, after 

 wheeling two or three times round the piece of water near 

 the house, they alight and commence grazing. They are 

 very ornamental objects stalking about the lawn, tossing 

 their heads and making curious contortions with their long 

 necks. It frequently happens that two remain when all 

 the rest are flown. After reconnoitering the place for a 

 few days, they usually fix on the corner of an island as 

 their nesting place. This favourite nook of theirs is not 

 far from where a pair of Moorhens, year after year, pro- 

 duce their young ; yet, neither Goose nor Moorhen ever 

 interfere with each other, but keep on very good terms ; 

 nevertheless, the former does not permit her sooty com- 

 panion to make too close an approach. After the female 

 Goose has fully made up her mind as to the locality of 

 her nursery, she begins plucking feathers, straws, and other 

 soft materials, until she has at last constructed a perfect 



