7832 



Birch. 



are deserted by the swans, and from November to April large flocks 

 are to be seen on the expanses of the large rivers of the Oregon ter- 

 ritory and California, between the Cascades Range and the Pacific, 

 where the climate is particularly mild, and their favourite food 

 abounds in the lakes and placid waters. Collected sometimes in 

 great numbers, their silvery strings embellish the landscape, and form 

 part of the life and majesty of the scene. These societies break up 

 as they advance upon their long spring journey to the north. They 

 are then dispersed in small bands and but few together, each of a 

 pair at last separating and betaking to the cares of the season of 

 incubation. In the most secluded and unfrequented districts, where 

 there is ample water range, they rear their young. 



Superior to the swans as an article of food, the geese of every 

 species are tenfold in number, and they form the favourite dish of the 

 Indians of Hudson's Bay. When the long and dreary winter has 

 fully expended itself, and the willow grouse (Tetrao Saliceti) have 

 taken their departure for more northern regions, there is frequently a 

 period of dread starvation to many of the natives, who are generally 

 at that time moving from their wintering grounds to the trading posts. 

 The first note, therefore, of the large gray or Canada goose (Anser 

 canadensis) is listened to with a rapture known only to those who 

 have endured great privations and gnawing hunger. The melancholy 

 visages brighten, and the tents are filled with hope, to which joy 

 soon succeeds, as the happy father, or hopeful son and brother, 

 returning successful from the hunt, throws down with satisfaction and 

 pride the grateful load. 



The Anser canadensis here alluded to is the largest of our geese, 

 and is almost always first seen in the Hudson's Bay Company's ter- 

 ritories. It may be only a single straggler which has lost its mate, or 

 at most five or six together. These are the advanced guard of the 

 serried legions of other water-fowl which nature and instinct send 

 forth every spring from the south, to occupy, during the productive 

 summer, the land of the north, and to partake of the plentiful and 

 luscious repasts that Providence has, during their absence, been 

 storing up for them, in a hidden yet nascent state. 



The Canada gray goose, as if aware of the general favour in which 

 it is held, spreads itself very diffusively over the whole continent. Its 

 disposition has less of wildness in it than that of the snow goose. 

 We come upon it hatching in quiet recesses and corners, surrounded 

 by reedy, waters, where " rushes and grasses do most abound." It is 

 at home over the whole wooded portion of the country, equally so in 



