238 Mr. Peabody on the 
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 spe- 
cies. As the cold grows severe, they leave us for 
their winter quarters. 
The Canapa Goose, Anser Canadensis, is well 
known in Massachusetts, as one of the heralds of 
spring. Their spring migration appears always de- 
termined 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 resource for food. Their arrival is most wel- 
come in the fur countries, where the aborigines de- - 
pend upon them for their subsistence in summer. 
The hunter sets up stuffed birds as a decoy, and im- 
itates their call; thus bringing them within his 
reach, he destroys them in great numbers. But 
while the great proportion 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 suf- 
ficiently practised in flying, they prepare for their 
return. On the first appearance of snow, the ganders 
arrange the flocks in order of flight, the old males 
in front, the females next, and the young after them, 
