118 



THE CANADA GOOSE. 



island lay at some distance, and I preferred to 

 launch them close to the cherry-tree, which done, 

 the parents immediately jumped down into the 

 water below, and then swam off with them to 

 the opposite shore. This loving couple, ap- 

 parently so ill-assorted and disproportionate, 

 has brought up the progeny with great care 

 and success. It has now arrived at its full 

 growth, and is in mature plumage. 



These hybrids are elegantly shaped, but are 

 not so large as the mother, nor so small as the 

 father, their plumage partaking in colour with 

 that of both parents. The white on their front 

 is only half as much as that which is seen on 

 the front of the gander, whilst their necks are 

 brown in lieu of the coal-black colour which 

 appears on the neck of the goose. Their 

 breasts, too, are of a dusky colour, whilst the 

 breast of the Bernacle is black, and that of the 

 Canadian white ; and throughout the whole of 

 the remaining plumage, there may be seen an 

 altered and modified colouring not to be traced 

 in that of the parent birds. 



I am writing this in the middle of February. 

 In a fortnight or three weeks more, as the 

 breeding season approaches, perhaps my little 



