CANADA GOOSE. 
85 
now admitted in our Fauna ; at the same time it is 
a bird so easily domesticated, and so frequently kept 
where there are artificial waters, that we have no 
doubt many escape or stray, and are at times killed 
and considered wild. It has been killed in various 
parts of England, but we do not know or recollect 
of any Scotch instances of its capture ; at times 
small flocks have appeared, some pairs of which 
would remain after the mass had departed, and se- 
lect a breeding spot where they would rear the 
young. An instance of this is related to have taken 
place near Derby, where an artificial piece of water 
was selected for a breeding place ;* the birds thus 
exhibiting none of the wariness wc usually see among 
this tribe, and in this instance we would rather 
consider that they had been accustomed to con- 
finement, and had selected a situation resembling 
that to which they had been used. In their native 
countries, however, they are far from wild, and are 
described by Dr. Richardson as easily decoyed, 
several arc often killed at a shot, and by Audubon 
■ hey are stated to afford a frequent temptation to 
the sportsman. That ornithologist also observes, 
that they breed sparingly at the present day in 
many parts of the western districts, on the Missouri, 
Mississippi, the lower parts of the Ohio, Lake Erie, 
&c. ; he also found them on the Magdeline Islands, 
Newfoundland, and Labrador. In the Western and 
Eastern States it is crossed with the common goose, 
and the breed is considered superior ; it is more 
* See Mag. of Nat. Hist. viii. p. 255. 
