CANADA GOOSE. 13 



next morning they rise on their feet, arrange and clean their feathers, 

 perhaps walk to the water to drink, and then depart for their feeding 

 grounds. 



When I first went to the Falls of the Ohio, the rocky shelvings of 

 which are often bare for fully half a mile, thousands of wild geese of this 

 species rested there at night. The breadth of the various channels that 

 separate the rocky islands from either shore, and the rapidity of the cur- 

 rents which sweep along them, render this place of resort more secure 

 than most others. The wild geese still betake themselves to these islands 

 during winter for the same purpose, but their number has become very 

 small ; and so shy are these birds at present in the neighbourhood of 

 Louisville, that the moment they are disturbed at the ponds where they 

 go to feed each morning, were it but by the report of a single gun, they 

 immediately return to their rocky asylums. Even there, however, they 

 are by no means secure, for it not unfrequently happens that a flock 

 alights within half gunshot of a person concealed in a pile of drifted wood, 

 whose aim generally proves too true for their peace. Nay, I knew a gen- 

 tleman, who had a large mill opposite Rock Island, and who used to kill 

 the poor geese at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, by means of 

 a small cannon heavily charged with rifle bullets; and, if I recollect truly, 

 Mr Tarascon in this manner not unfrequently obtained a dozen or more 

 geese at a shot. This was done at dawn, when the birds were busily en- 

 gaged in trimming their plumage with the view of flying off" in a few mi- 

 nutes to their feeding grounds. This war of extermination could not last 

 long : the geese deserted the fatal rock, and the great gun of the mighty 

 miller was used only for a few weeks. 



While on the water, the Canada Goose moves with considerable grace, 

 and in its general deportment resembles the wild Swan, to which I think 

 it is nearly allied. If wounded in the wing, they sometimes dive to a 

 small depth, and make off" with astonishing address, always in the direc- 

 tion of the shore, the moment they reach which, you see them sneaking 

 through the grass or bushes, their necks extended an inch or so above the 

 ground, and in this manner proceeding so silently, that, unless closely 

 watched, they are pretty sure to escape. If shot at and wounded while 

 on the ice, they immediately walk off" in a dignified manner, as if anxious 

 to make you believe that they have not been injured, emitting a loud note 

 all the while ; ])ut the instant they reach the shore they become silent, 

 and make off" in the manner desci'ibed. I was much surprised one day, 



