64 CANADA GOOSE. 



are accustomed to fly ; and concealing themselves within gun-shot, wait 

 for a flight, which is no sooner perceived by the decoy Geese, than they 

 begin calling aloud, until the whole flock approaches so near as to give 

 them an opportunity of discharging two and sometimes three loaded 

 muskets among it, by which great havoc is made. 



The Wild Goose, when in good order, weighs from ten to twelve, and 

 sometimes fourteen pounds. They are sold in the Philadelphia markets 

 at from seventy-five cents to one dollar each ; and are estimated to yield 

 half a pound of feathers a piece, which produces twenty-five or thirty 

 cents more. 



The Canada Goose is now domesticated in numerous quarters of the 

 country, and is remarked for being extremely watchful, and more sensi- 

 ble of approaching changes in the atmosphere than the common Gray 

 Goose. In England, France, and Germany, they have also been long 

 ago domesticated. BufFon, in his account of this bird, observes, " within 

 these few years many hundreds inhabited the great canal at Versailles, 

 where they breed familiarly with the Swans ; they were oftener on the 

 grassy margins than in the water ;" and adds, " there is at present a 

 great number of them on the magnificent pools that decorate the 

 charming gardens of Chantilly." Thus has America already added to 

 the stock of domestic fowls two species, the Turkey and the Canada 

 Goose, superior to most in size, and inferior to none in usefulness ; for 

 it is acknowledged by an English naturalist of good observation, that 

 this last species " is as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in every respect 

 as valuable as the common Goose."* 



The strong disposition of the wounded Wild Geese to migrate to the 

 north in spring, has been already taken notice of. Instances have 

 occurred where, their wounds having healed, they have actually suc- 

 ceeded in mounting into the higher regions of the air, and joined a pass- 

 ing party to the north ; and, extraordinary as it may appear, I am well 

 assured by the testimony of several respectable persons, who have been 

 eye-witnesses to the fact, that they have been also known to return 

 again in the succeeding autumn to their former habitation. These 

 accounts are strongly corroborated by a letter which I some time ago 

 received from an obliging correspondent at New York ; which I shall 

 here give at large, permitting him to tell his story in his own way, and 

 conclude my history of this species. 



" Mr. Piatt, a respectable farmer on Long Island, being out shooting 

 in one of the bays which, in that part of the country, abound with water 

 fowl, wounded a Wild Goose. Being wing-tipped, and unable to fly, he 

 caught it, and brought it home alive. It proved to be a female ; and 

 turning it into his yard, with a flock of tame Geese, it soon became 



* Bewick, v. ii., p. 255. 



