CANADA GOOSE 



Back and wings grayish-brown ; head and neck black with 

 a broad white patch on the throat and side of the head; tail 

 black; under parts gray shading to white; bill and legs black. 

 Length, thirty-six inches. 



Nest, usually on the ground and made of twigs and grass, 

 lined with feathers. Eggs, five to seven, nearly white, 

 3.50 X 2.50 inches. 



The Goose was probably one of the first birds tamed by 

 man. In the domesticated state, it has been of great value both 

 for the table and on account of its quills and its fine soft feathers. 

 It still remains a highly prized article of food with many 

 families. Thousands are raised and sold in the markets 

 annually. The goose-feather bed, formerly used in every home, 

 is not yet wholly displaced. Until the invention of steel pens, 

 less than a hundred years ago, all the people of Europe and 

 America did their writing with pens madfe from goose-quills. 



In our country there are several kinds of wild Geese, the 

 best known of which is the Canada Goose, often called the 

 Common Wild Goose. This kind is seen by us during its 

 migrations in early spring and late fall as it goes into the 

 Hudson Bay region for nesting, and again as it returns south- 

 ward towards Mexico for its winter home. A journey of three 

 thousand miles is made twice a year for the privilege of raising 

 the young in the distant north. 



In their migrations, these birds fly in flocks under the 

 leadership of a gander. They may be a^rranged in single file, 

 but oftener they group themselves in two lines forming an 

 angle like a half inverted V with the leader at the point. As 



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