CANADA GOOSE. 185 



inhabit the northern parts of North America. Immense 

 flocks appear annually in the spring in Hudson's Bay, and 

 pass far to the north to breed, and return southward in 

 autumn. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says, numbers 

 also breed about Hudson's Bay, laying six or seven eggs 

 each ; the young are easily made tame. They proceed in 

 their southern migration as far as South Carolina, where 

 they winter in the rice grounds. Dr. Richardson, in his 

 Fauna Boreali-Americana, says, the arrival of this well 

 known bird in the fur-countries is anxiously looked for, 

 and hailed with great joy by the natives of the woody and 

 swampy districts, who depend principally upon it for sub- 

 sistence during the summer. It makes its first appearance 

 in flocks of twenty or thirty, which are readily decoyed 

 within gun-shot by the hunters, who set up stuffed skins, and 

 imitate its call. Two or three, or more, are so frequently 

 killed at a shot, that the usual price of a Goose is a single 

 charge of ammunition. One Goose, which, when fat, weighs 

 about nine pounds, is the daily ration for one of the Com- 

 pany's servants during the season, and is reckoned equi- 

 valent to two Snow Geese,* or three ducks, or eight 

 pounds of buffalo and moose meat, or two pounds of pem- 

 mican, or a pint of maize and four ounces of suet. About 

 three weeks after their first appearance, the Canada Geese 

 disperse in pairs throughout the country, between the 50th 

 and 67th parallels, to breed, retiring at the same time 

 from the shores of Hudson's Bay. They are seldom or 

 never seen on the coasts of the Arctic Sea. In July, after 

 the young birds are hatched, the parents moult, and vast 

 numbers are killed in the rivers and small lakes, when 

 they are unable to fly. When chased by a canoe and 



* There is an old saying, that a Goose is too much for one, and not enough 

 for two: Hearne, in his Journal, says, " the flesh of the Snow Goose is delicate, 

 but the bird is so small that I ate two one night for supper.' 1 '' 



