CANADA GOOSE 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



'Cfje jl^ational Besiotiation of ^ububon Societies; 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 106 



Few sights in the bird-world are so calculated to stir the imagination of the 

 bird-lover or the hunter as that of a flock of Canada Geese passing overhead. 

 In V-shaped formation the great grey-and- white birds move through the upper 

 air in what seems to be a most leisurely and dehberate manner. As a matter 

 of fact they are probably traveling at a rate of more than fifty miles an hour. 

 This fleeting view of a flock passing high above the buildings and tree-tops is 

 about all the average man or woman ever sees of the famous Wild Goose. If 

 the air be free from distracting noises, the observer may even catch the musical 

 honk, ah honk that falls clear as a bugle-note from the sky above. On quiet 

 mornings about lakes or over extensive marshes I have known the sound of 

 this cry to carry to the ear from a distance of a mile or more 



When thus observed, Wild Geese are usually on a long journey. If it be 

 autumn, they are probably moving southward to their winter home. Immense 

 numbers of them pass the cold months along the coasts of the Middle and 

 South Atlantic States, being especially abundant from Long Island to South 

 Carolina. The center of their winter abundance in this region is Chesapeake 

 Bay, Virginia, and the sounds of North Carolina. In Currituck Sound, Canada 

 Geese at times are seen in numbers almost beyond belief. I have watched one 

 wave of flying Geese follow another for a period of more than two hours' du- 

 ration probably 40,000 being in sight during the time they were under ob- 

 servation. 



This species is not a common bird on the great salt marshes of the Louisiana 

 Coast, but many are found in the bayous along the Mississippi River from 

 northern Louisiana to Missouri. Here they feed, especially among the stubbles 

 of the grain-fields, and resort to the river at evening, where on the moonlit 

 bars they may be heard chattering among themselves as the night closes down. 

 Many go down the Pacific Coast and pass the winter months in the great 

 irrigated valleys of central and southern California. During their autumn 

 migration, and after reaching their winter home, Canada Geese are persistently 

 sought by gunners, and many are the devices that have been invented for out- 

 witting these most wise and wary of water-fowl. 



Except on their breeding-grounds Canada Geese are always found in flocks, 

 and when feeding in stubble fields, on the marsh, or perhaps standing in shoal 

 water in the wide expanse of some sound or estuary, it is folly for the hunter to 

 think of approaching the birds by stealth. The vision of the Wild Goose is 

 marvelous, and its power to detect danger is developed to an extent that is 

 positively uncanny. When resting or feeding, some of the birds always have 

 their heads elevated and are scanning the horizon for danger. 



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