223 
whether they remain in their old accustomed 
haunts, but there can be no doubt that the 
greater part migrate northward to breed. 
The female lays eight or nine eggs of a 
dirty white. 
During the winter season these birds 
unite into flocks, and are frequently 
changing their places. In their flight 
they assume various shapes, sometimes that 
of an inverted V, an A. an L, and some- 
times a straight line, these changes are at- 
tributed by some authors, to the leader of 
the van's quitting his post at the point of 
the angle through fatigue, dropping into 
the rear, and leaving his place to be occu- 
pied by another. The flight of these birds 
have been calculated at the rate of twenty 
five miles an hour, When they happen 
to halt in their migratory excursions, they 
are very destructive to the young corn* 
Bewick says that " in some countries they 
are caught in those seasons in long nets, re- 
sembling those used for catching Larks : to 
these nets the Wild Geese are decoyed by 
tame ones placed there for that purpose. 
Many other schemes are contrived to take 
