384 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



are so cautious as to station one of their number as a sentinel, 

 to warn them of approaching danger. They return with their 

 famihes in September, after which they are occasionally seen 

 in Massachusetts bay. They are very noisy, and their note is 

 distinguished from that of the common wild goose, by its 

 greater shrillness. Their flesh is said to be better than that of 

 the latter species. As the cold grows severe, they leave us for 

 their winter quarters. 



The Canada Goose, Anser Canadensis, is well known in 

 Massachusetts, as one of the heralds of spring. Their spring 

 migration appears always determined by the advance of the 

 season, and the melting of the snow, which discloses a supply 

 of grass and berries, uninjured by the frost, and ready as a re- 

 source for food. Their arrival is most welcome in the fur coun- 

 tries, where the aborigines depend upon them for their subsist- 

 ence in summer. The hunter sets up stuffed birds as a decoy, 

 and imitates their call ; thus bringing them within his rccUih, 

 he destroys them in great numbers. But while the great pro- 

 portion go to the north to breed, Audubon assures us, that 

 many remain and breed ; some, he says, in pools in the eastern 

 parts of Maine and Massachusetts, so that he thinks it entitled 

 to be set down as a permanent resident within the Union. 

 Farther north, they become more numerous, and in Labrador, 

 their nests abound in every marshy plain. 



When the young have become large, and sufficiently prac- 

 tised in flying, they prepare for their return. On the first ap- 

 pearance of snow, the ganders arrange the flocks in order of 

 flight, the old males in front, the females next, and the young 

 after them, the weakest behind ; and thus they set forth, some- 

 times with an extended front, sometimes in single file, but 

 generally in a sharp angle, with an old gander at the head. 

 When any one is fatigued, he falls back in the wake of anoth- 

 er, who cleaves the air before him ; the leader at times gives 

 out a loud cry of encouragement, or command, which is an- 

 swered from various parts of the line. They fly with great 

 strength and steadiness, at a great height in the air, if they 



