186 
THE CANADA GOOSE. 
pany. When I left Henderson, my flock of Geese was given away, and I 
have not since heard how it has fared with them. 
On one of my shooting excursions in the same neighbourhood, I chanced 
one day to kill a wild Canada Goose, which, on my return, was sent to 
the kitchen. The cook, while dressing it, found in it an egg ready for being 
laid, and brought it to me. It Was placed under a common hen, and in due 
time hatched. Two years afterwards the bird thus raised, mated with a male 
of the same species, and produced a brood. This Goose was so gentle that 
she would suffer any person to caress her, and would readily feed from the 
hand. She was smaller than usual, but in every other respect as perfect as 
any I have ever seen. At the period of migration she showed by her 
movements less desire to fly off than any other I have known ; but her mate, 
who had once been free, did not participate in this apathy. 
I have not been able to discover why many of those birds which I have 
known to have been reared from the egg, or to have been found when very 
young and brought up in captivity, were so averse to reproduce, unless they 
were naturally sterile. I have seen several that had been kept for more than 
eight years, without ever mating during that period, while other individuals 
had young the second spring after their birth. I have also observed that an 
impatient male would sometimes abandon the females of his species, and pay 
his addresses to a common tame Goose, by which a brood would in due time 
be brought up, and would thrive. That this tardiness is not the case in the 
wild state I feel pretty confident, for I have observed having broods of their 
own many individuals which, by their size, the dulness of their plumage, 
and such other marks as are known to the practical ornithologist, I judged 
to be not more than fifteen or sixteen months old. I have therefore thought 
that in this, as in many other species, a long series of years is necessary for 
counteracting the original wild and free nature which has been given them ; 
and indeed it seems probable that our attempts to domesticate many species 
of wild fowls, which would prove useful to mankind, have often been 
abandoned in despair, when a few years more of constant care might have 
produced the desired effect. 
The Canada Goose, although immediately after the full development of 
its young it becomes gregarious, does not seem to be fond of the company 
of any other species. Thus, whenever the White-fronted Goose, the Snow 
Goose, the Brent Goose, or others, alight in the same ponds, it forces them 
to keep at a respectful distance ; and during its migrations, I have never 
observed a single bird of any other kind in its ranks. 
The flight of this species of Goose is firm, rather rapid, and capable of 
being protracted to a great extent. When once high in the air, they advance 
with extreme steadiness and regularity of motion. In rising from the water 
