284 BIEDS 



Atlantic coasts of Europe and America. The nests are 

 lined with the soft down plucked by the female from her 

 breast. This down, gathered from the nests, furnishes 

 the eider down of commerce. 



The Canada goose is the common wild goose of America. 

 It migrates in the autumn to the South in Y-shaped flocks, 

 and returns North the following spring. It breeds in the 

 northern United States and Canada. The nests, made of 

 grass and sticks and lined with down and feathers, are 

 usually placed on the ground. In most cases wild geese 

 remain around lakes or rivers. 



Cranes, rails, etc. — The cranes are large birds with long 

 legs and long necks. They frequent marshy places, ponds, 

 rivers, and small streams. The whooping crane is white, 

 with some black on each wing, and stands three to four feet 

 high. The sandhill crane is common in the Mississippi 

 Valley. The rails are smaller birds, with shorter necks and 

 legs, and hardly any tail. Their legs are strong, and they 

 depend on running, to a large extent, for safety. The 

 Carolina crake is a smaU, slate-colored bird, much esteemed 

 for food. 



Snipe and woodcock. — These are both highly prized 

 game birds, with, perhaps, the woodcock higher in favor. 

 Both of them have long, straight bills, with which they 

 probe into the soft mud about the margins of ponds and 

 streams in search of earthworms. The woodcock has a 

 relatively large body, with short legs and tail, feeds mostly 

 at night or in the shelter of undergrowth and is conse- 

 quently difficult to kill. The snipe (Wilson's snipe) 

 usually feeds in more open ground and when it takes flight, 

 utters a shrill cry. 



Birds of prey. — The birds of prey include the eagles, 



