THE CANADA GOOSE. X89 



aware of the ease with which they could be followed by their tracks over 

 the treacherous surface. 



The Canada Geese are fond of returning regularly to the place which they 

 have chosen for resting in, and this they continue to do until they find them- 

 selves greatly molested while there. In parts of the country where they 

 are little disturbed, they seldom go farther than the nearest sandbank or the 

 dry shore of the places in which they feed; but in other parts they retire 

 many miles to spots of greater security, and of such extent as will enable 

 them to discover danger long before it can reach them. When such a place 

 is found, and proves secure, many flocks resort to it, but alight apart in 

 separate groups. Thus, on some of the great sand-bars of the Ohio, the 

 Mississippi, and other large streams, congregated flocks, often amounting to 

 a thousand individuals, may be seen at the approach of night, which they 

 spend there, lying on the sand within a few feet of each other, every flock 

 having its own sentinel. In the dawn of 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 currents 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 asy- 

 lums. Even there, however, they are by no means secure, for it not unfre- 

 quently happens that a flock alights within half gunshot of a person conceal- 

 ed in a pile of drifted wood, whose aim generally proves too true for their 

 peace. Nay, I knew a gentleman, 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 ob- 

 tained a dozen or more Geese at a shot. This was done at dawn, when the 

 birds were busily engaged in trimming their plumage with the view of fly- 

 ing off in a few minutes to their feeding-grounds. This war of extermina- 

 tion 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 



