THE CANADIAN GOOSE. 205 



on their return, after the commencement of the frost, are 

 suffered to freeze, and are thus kept as fresh provision 

 for several months. Others, either taken young or 

 wounded, are frequently detained in captivity during 

 the winter. They seldom breed in so low a latitude as 

 Churchill River ; but Hearne states that he has occa- 

 sionally met with their eggs in that neighbourhood. 

 The females rarely lay more than four eggs, but the 

 whole number is generally hatched. They are said 

 usually to select an island in preference to the main- 

 land, for the performance of the maternal office in 

 greater safety. 



As soon as the first frosts give notice of the return 

 of the cold season, the Geese commence their flight to 

 the south, and arrive on the coast of New Jersey early 

 in October. Here many of them remain during the 

 winter, frequenting the shallow bogs and marshy islands, 

 feeding on the tender green leaves of a marine plant 

 called the sea-cabbage, and on the roots of sedge, which 

 they are frequently observed in the act of tearing up, 

 and making occasional excursions to the beach for 

 gravel. They swim well, and dive to a great distance ; 

 but except in very calm weather rarely sleep upon the 

 water, their roosting-place being mostly in the marshes. 



In all their migrations they are marked out for de- 

 struction by the hand of man ; but the swiftness of their 

 flight and the height to which they soar renders it 

 necessary to resort to stratagem in order to decoy them 

 within gunshot. Pennant gives a very interesting ac- 

 count of the manner in which the Indians lie in wait 

 for them on their arrival, and estimates the number 

 that a good shot may kill on a favourable day as high 

 as two hundred. Some idea may be formed from this 

 of the prodigious numbers that are annually destroyed. 

 In spring they are exceedingly fond of society, and 



