ANAS CANADENSIS. 
180 
hundreds inhabited the great canal at Versailles, ■vv'bff* 
they breed familiarly with the sn ans ; they ivere ofteo* 
on the grassy margins than in the water and ado*’ 
“ there is at pres(uit a great number of them on O’, 
magnificent pools that decorate the charming garde^ 
of Chantilly.” Thus has America already added ^ 
the stock of domestic I'oiv Is tu o species, the turkey aJ’ 
the Canada goose, superior to most in size, and iureno 
to none in usefulness ; for it is acknowledged by ’ j 
English naturalist, of good observation, that this 
species “ is as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in eveO 
respect as valuable as the common goose.”* 
The strong disposition of the wounded wild geese 
migrate to the north in spring, has been already ta^^ 
notice of. Instances have occurred where, their 
having healed, they have actually succeeded in mouiill® 
into the higher regions of the air, and .)oined a pas*”'' 
party to the north ; and, extraordinary as it may appe^'J 
I am well assured by the testimony of several resp** 
table persons, who have been eye-witnesses to the ' 
that they have been also known to return again in 
succeeding autumn to their former habitation. Tl'^j 
accounts are strongly corroborated by a letter whi‘d'^| 
some time ago received from an obliging correspond^ 
at New York ; uhich I shall here give at In''^ 
permitting him to tell his story in his own way, ” 
conclude my history of this species; — 
“ Mr Platt, a respectable farmer ou Long l*'*J',,i 
being out shooting in one of the ba3’s which, in ' j 
part of the country, abound with water-fowl, woun‘|^^ 
a wild goose. Being wing-tipped, and unable to tly> 
caught it, and brought it home alive. It proved to j 
a female ; and, turning it into his y.ard, with a 
tame geese, it soon became cpiite tame and fannn'j^ 
and in a little time its wounded wing entirel}' 
In the following spring, when the wild geese ni'r'^ii 
to the northward, a flock passed over iVL' Platt’s 
j'ard ; and, just at that moment, their leader hapj’*”’ " 
* Bewick, vol. ii, p. 255. 
