468 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 









JJlMENSIONS 



Of a male. 











Inch. 



Lin. 



Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch, 



.ength, total 



32 







Length, of bill to frontal angle 2 



7 



Length of middle nail 







,, of tail 



. 6 







,, of bill to rictus . 2 



3 



,, of hind toe . 



. 



„ of wing . 



16 



9 



,, of tarsus . . 3 







,, of hind nail 







,, of bill above . 



2 



3 



,, of middle toe . 2 



4 







3* 



[227.] 3. Anser Canadensis. (Bonap.) Canada Goose. 



Sub-family, Anserinae, Swains. Genus, Anser, Auct. 



The Canada Goose. Edwards, pi. 15). 



Canada Goose. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 544, No. 471- Wils., viii.p. 53, pi. 07, f. 4. 



Anser Canadensis. Bonap., %»., p. 377? No. 318. 



Neescah or mistehay-neescah. Ckee Indians. 



L'Outarde. French Canadians. Bustard. Hudson's Bay Settlers. 



The arrival of this well-known bird in the fur countries is anxiously looked 

 for and hailed with great joy by the natives of the woody and swampy districts, 

 who depend principally upon it for subsistence during- the summer. It makes 

 its first appearance in flocks of twenty or thirty, which are readily decoyed within 

 gun-shot by the hunters, who set up stales and imitate its call. Two or three 

 or more are so frequently killed at a shot, that the usual price of a goose is a 

 single charge of ammunition. One goose, which, when fat, weighs about nine 

 pounds, is the daily ration for one of the Company's servants during the season, 

 and is reckoned equivalent to two snow geese, or three ducks, or eight pounds 

 of buffalo and moose meat, or two pounds of pemmican, or a pint of maize and 

 four ounces of suet. About three weeks after their first appearance, the Canada 

 geese disperse in pairs throughout the country, between the 50th and 67th 

 parallels, to breed, retiring at the same time from the shores of Hudson's Bay. 

 They are seldom or never seen on the coasts of the Arctic Sea. In July, after 

 the young birds are hatched, the parents moult, and vast numbers are killed in 

 the rivers and small lakes when they are unable to fly. When chased by a 

 canoe and obliged to dive frequently, they soon become fatigued and make for 



Note. — Hearne describes a goose under the name of Horned Wavey, which does not appear to be noticed by any 

 other writer. His words are : — " This delicate and diminutive species of Goose is not much larger than the Mallard 

 Duck. Its plumage is delicately white, except the quill feathers, which are black. The bill is not more than an inch 

 long, and is studded at the base with little knobs about the size of peas, but more remarkably so in the males. The 

 bill and feet are of the same colour with those of the Snow Goose. This species is very scarce at Churchill, and I be- 

 lieve is never found at any of the southern settlements ; but about three hundred miles to the N.W. of Churchill, I 

 have seen it in as large flocks as the Snow goose. The flesh of this bird is delicate ; but it is so small, that I ate two 

 one night for supper" — Hearne, Journ., p. 442. Lewis and Clark also give descriptions of several small Geese that 

 frequent the coast of the Pacific, which we cannot reconcile with any of our species. — R. 



