CANADA GOOSE. 439 



Mark. Patch on throat, extending up on sides of hend, upper tail coverts, posterior portions below, back of tibia, white. 

 Iris, In-own; feet and bill, black. Youny. Similar to the adult but paler. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known by the large size, absence of any conspicuous white markings on lower neck and colors as described. 

 Distributed, in summer, from Canada, northward; wintering from New Jersey, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from North America. Length, 35'00; stretch, 62-70; wing, 17*62; tail, (HO; bill, 

 2-50; tarsus, 372. Longest specimen, 3S-00; greatest extent of wing, 65 '50; longest wing, 19'25; tail ,7*00; bill, 2-80; tarsus, 

 4 10. Shortest specimen, 32-00; smallest extent of wing, 59-00; shortest wing, 16'00; tail, 5-30; bill, 2'25; tarsus, 3'35. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND ECiCiS. 



Nesls, placed on the ground in marshy places, eomp >sed of sticks, weeds, etc. Eyg*, six to ten in number, elliptical 

 in form, and dirty-white in color. Dimensions from 2'85 x 3'40 to 2'35 x 3'50. 



HABITS. 



For upward of two hundred years, the exploits of the Canada Geese have been so re- 

 peat cdly recorded both in story and in song, that it is extremely difficult to write anything 

 new concerning them. Yet their migrations to and from their northern breeding grounds, 

 always prove interesting to (he inhabitants, over whose heads they pass seini-annually, the 

 must casual observer, never tailing to glance upward, when he hears their sonorous honks, 

 to note the wedge-shaped flock, or long line, of large birds, hurrying onward with more than 

 railroad speed, toward their destination. The wild Geese have learned wisdom by long ex- 

 perience, and now seldom alight on our east coast in numbers; thus it sounds marvelous 

 to hear the stories of the vast multitudes which formally gathered along our shores. These 

 Geese are, with us, the shyest of birds when in flocks, yet when one becomes separated 

 from the main body, it appears bewildered and apparently loses all fear of man. Once, 

 when I was a boy, a single Goose, evidently lost, sailed several times around our meadow, 

 in Newtonville, in which I was standing, once or twice passing within ten or twelve feet 

 of niy head. Some years later, on the day before Christinas, I was informed by a neigh- 

 bor, that there was a large bird in his meadow, and taking my gun, I walked within thirty 

 , yards of a large, male, wild Goose which was standing in an open field, and shot it. A 

 few years ago, I surprised one in a field near the sea-shore, late in November, and walked 

 within a few yards of it before it flew. Just previous to all these occasions, a thick fog 

 had prevailed, during which the Geese had evidently lost their reckoning. The Canada 

 Geese are abundant in southern waters during winter, from the Carolinas to Northern Flor- 

 ida, for although they are so rare on the east coast of this latter named State, that I nev- 

 er saw one there, yet I have found them very common about Cedar Keys, where, however, 

 they are as shy as they are in the North. 



It is highly probable, that before the general settlement of New England, the Canada 

 (Jccse bred from Massachusetts, northward, but now they are confined to the wilder por- 

 tions of Canada, Labrador, and the adjacent islands, and so on to the North Pole. When 

 I was on the Magdalen Islands, certain inaccessible tracts of marshes, already described, 

 were pointed out to me as breeding grounds of the Geese, but I scarcely think that these 

 birds can occur in any numbers there, in summer, as I did not see a single specimen dur- 

 ing my visit. In habits, both this and the succeeding species behave much like the do- 

 mesticated birds. 



