THE CANADA GOOSE. 
187 
or from the ground, they usually run a few feet with outspread wings ; but 
when suddenly surprised and in full plumage, a single spring on their broad 
webbed feet is sufficient to enable them to get on wing. While travelling to 
some considerable distance, they pass through the air at the height of about 
a mile, steadily following a direct course towards the point to which they 
are bound. Their notes are distinctly heard, and the various changes made 
in the disposition of their ranks are easily seen. But although on these 
occasions they move with the greatest regularity, yet when they are slowly 
advancing from south to north at an early period of the season, they fly 
much lower, alight more frequently, and are more likely to be bewildered 
by suddenly formed banks of fog, or by passing over cities or arms of the 
sea where much shipping may be in sight. On such occasions great con- 
sternation prevails among them, they crowd together in a confused manner, 
wheel irregularly, and utter a constant cackling resembling the sounds from 
a disconcerted mob. Sometimes the flock separates, some individuals leave 
the rest, proceed in a direction contrary to that in which they came, and 
after awhile, as if quite confused, sail towards the ground, once alighted on 
which they appear to become almost stupified, so as to suffer themselves to 
be shot with ease, or even knocked down with sticks. This I have known 
to take place on many occasions, besides those of which I have myself been 
a witness. Heavy snow-storms also cause them great distress, and in the 
midst of them some have been known to fly against beacons and lighthouses, 
dashing their heads against the walls in the middle of the day. In the night 
they are attracted by the lights of these buildings, and now and then a whole 
flock is caught on such occasions. At other times their migrations north- 
ward are suddenly checked by a change of weather, the approach of which 
seems to be well known to them, for they will suddenly wheel and fly back 
in a southern direction several hundred miles. In this manner I have known 
flocks to return to the places which they had left a fortnight before. Nay, 
even during the winter months, they are keenly sensible to changes of tem- 
perature, flying north or south in search of feeding-grounds, with so much 
knowledge of the future state of the weather, that one may be assured when 
he sees them proceeding southward in the evening, that the next morning 
will be cold, and vice versa. 
The Canada Goose is less shy when met with far inland, than when on the 
sea-coast, and the smaller the ponds or lakes to which they resort, the more 
easy it is to approach them. They usually feed in the manner of Swans and 
fresh-water Ducks, that is, by plunging their heads towards the bottom of 
shallow ponds or the borders of lakes and rivers, immersing their fore parts, 
and frequently exhibiting their legs and feet with the posterior portion of 
their body elevated in the air. They never dive on such occasions. If 
