POULTRY. 
267 
mous : the autumnal flight lasts from the middle of August to the middle 
of October ; those which are taken in this season, when the frosts begin 
are preserved in their feathers, and left to be frozen for the fresh pro- 
visions ot the winter stock. The feathers constitute an article of com- 
merce, and are sent to England. The vernal flight of these geese lasts 
from the middle of April until the middle of May. Their arrival in the 
fur countries from the south is impatiently expected ; it is the harbinger 
ol spring, and the month is named by the Indians the goose-moon. l)r. 
Richardson, in his Fauna Boreali-Americana, describes as follows the 
interest caused by the appearance of the flocks “ The arrival of this 
well-known biid is anxiously looked for and hailed with great joy by 
the natives of the woody and swampy districts, who depencf principally 
on it for subsistence during the summer. It makes its first appearance 
in flocks of twenty or thirty, which are readily decoyed within gunshot 
by the hunters, who conceal themselves and imitate its call. Tw-o, three 
or more are so frequently killed at a shot, that the usual price of a goose 
is the single charge of ammunition. One goose, which when fat weighs 
about nine pounds, is the daily ration of one of the Company’s servants 
during the season, and is reckoned equivalent to two snow-geese (Atlas 
hyperboreo), or three ducks, or eight pounds of buffalo and moose- 
meat, or two pounds of pemmican, or a pint of maize and four ounces of 
suet. 
“ About three weeks after their first appearance, the Canada geese 
disperse in pairs throughout the country, between the fiftieth and sixty- 
seventh ^parallels, to breed, retiring at the same time from the shores of 
Hudson’s Bay. They are seldom or never seen on the coasts of the 
arctic sea. In July, after the young birds are hatched, the parents 
moult, and vast numbers are killed in the rivers and lakes, when (from 
the loss of their quill feathers) they are unable to fly. When chased 
by a canoe, and obliged to dive frequently, they soon become fatigued, 
and make for the shore with the intention of hiding themselves; but as 
they are not fleet, they fall an easy prey to their pursuers. In the 
autumn they again assemble in flocks on the shores of Hudson’s Bay for 
three weeks or a month previous to their departure southward.” 
The Canada goose feeds on aquatic vegetables and their roots, and 
delicate marine plants of the genus ulva. To this diet they add orain 
and berries in their season. 
The flight of this species is laborious and heavy, and generally in 
single file, or in the form of two sides of a triangle, the leader, some 
old gander, being the apical bird. From time to time this leader utters 
his deep “ honk ,” which is responded to by the rest of the flock, and 
which may be translated, “What cheer, ho?” “All’s well!” Very 
often, however, all is not well, for the line is scattered by the fire of the 
gunner ; often, too, they meet with dense fogs, in which they become 
bewildered, and after wheeling about alight on the ground, where the 
gunners give them a warm reception. In some districts the sportsmen 
take with them into the marshes one or two of the domesticated race, 
which by their call attract the flocks passing overhead, and allure them 
to destruction. 
V ilson says that, except in calm weather, the flocks of Canada geese 
