THE WILD GOOSE AS A DOMESTIC BIRD. 



NORMAN POMEROY, JR. 



The flight of wild geese, high overhead, 

 on their migration from the North, and 

 their hoarse, resounding "honk," is all 

 most persons ever know of these great 

 native wild fowl. Even sportsmen know 

 comparatively little of their habits. Cir- 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY NORMAN POMEROY, JR. 



WILD GOOSE ON HER NEST. 



cumstances, however, have afforded me 

 unusual opportunities for becoming per- 

 sonally acquainted with them, and watch- 

 ing their nest building, the rearing of their 

 young and their daily life to old age. 



Some years ago a Michigan poultry 

 farmer, one of my father's friends, while 

 walking in the woods, by a rare chance 

 discovered a wild goose nest. It was care- 

 fully hidden under leaves and sticks, after 

 their usual custom, and had the proprie- 

 tors been at home the intrusion would, no 

 doubt, have been resented. But fortune 

 favored the discoverer and the eggs were 

 transferred to the care of a motherly fowl 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY NORMAN POMtROY, JR. 



WILD GOOSE NEST, UNCOVERED TO PHOTOGRAPH. 



at the farm, the result being a fine flock 

 of domesticated wild geese. The following 

 spring my father obtained a pair of these 

 birds, and the flock thus started was in- 

 creased, one autumn day, by a company 

 of their untamed kindred that were mi- 



grating and sociably alighted among the 

 domesticated geese, following them into a 

 pen, where they were secured and even- 

 tually tamed. Several generations of their 

 domesticated geese, following them into a 

 woods since then, but environment and 

 association with mankind have not over- 

 come their hereditary instincts. Their 

 wings have been clipped to prevent their 

 flying away, but though in a sense fully 

 domesticated they continue to adhere to 

 their native habits. 



There are on record other cases of their 

 domestication beside this one. It is said 

 that fully 200 years ago wild geese were 

 taken from their haunts in Canada, the 

 country from which their scientific name 

 is derived, Bernicla canadensis, to Great 

 Britain, and there so domesticated that it 

 is quite possible some of their descendants 

 may to-day hide in thickets along secluded 

 ponds. In the early days of the Hudson 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY NORMAN POMEROY, JR 



A FAMILY AFFAIR. 



Bay Company the flesh of the wild goose 

 formed a large part of the winter supply 

 of food for the residents, being used both 

 fresh and salted. 



Our own flock of wild geese I can, of 

 course, study at will, and so interesting 

 have I found them that, making my cam- 

 era supplement my pen, I have sought to 

 show others some scenes in their life story. 

 They are large, handsome birds, fully 2> l / 2 

 feet from tip of bill to tip of tail, the neck 

 being long and slender. Their colors are 

 white, black and grayish brown. The 

 birds mate in February and betake them- 

 selves to the woods at the earliest sign of 

 spring in quest of a nesting place, usually 

 selecting a little knoll surrounded by 

 swampy ground, and laying 6 or 8 eggs. 

 They conceal the nest with leaves and 

 twigs so skillfully I have sometimes made 

 several vain attempts before I succeeded 

 in finding it, though almost its exact lo- 

 cation was known to me. But woe to the 



