40 WATER FOWL. 



apart such kind of food. In summer, according to Rich- 

 ardson, in the northern regions they feed on berries, and 

 frequent the shores of lakes and rivers, and seldom are 

 seen on the water except at night or when moulting. 

 MacFarlane discovered on an island, in a lake near Liv- 

 erpool Bay, some nests of the Snow Goose which were 

 mere holes or depressions in the sandy soil well lined 

 with down. The eggs are large and yellowish-white. 

 The young are on the wing by the middle of August, and 

 feed at first chiefly on insects and rushes, and later on 

 berries. They are excellent for the table, and form, with 

 the adults, the staple article of food for the natives in that 

 region. 



Previous to starting on their southern journey the 

 birds desert the marshes, and keep near the edge of the 

 water as it ebbs and flows, dressing their feathers con- 

 tinually. Then, all being ready, they take advantage of 

 the first wind from the north and, mounting into the air, 

 are borne at a high speed by their own efforts and favor- 

 ing breezes, away from the ice-bound shores to sunnier 

 climes, leaving the cheerless land that had been their 

 summer home to lapse into the silence and darkness of 

 a continued night. 



" With mingled sounds of horns and bells 

 A far-heard clang, the Wild Geese fly, 

 Storm-sent from Arctic moors and fells. 

 Like a great arrow through the sky." 



On the northern portion of the Atlantic coast the 

 Snow Goose cannot be said to be common, and in 

 many parts is seldom seen. Small flocks are occa- 

 sionally met with on the waters of Long Island, but 

 the species becomes more abundant on the shores 

 of New Jersey and the coasts of Virginia and North 

 Carolina, where, in the latter State in the vicinity of Cape 



