SNOW GOOSE. 
215 
the latter never hatched. The Snow Goose was in the habit of daily 
frequenting a mill-pond in the vicinity, and returning regularly at night 
along with the rest ; but in the beginning of each spring it occasioned much 
trouble. It then continually raised its head and wings, and attempted to fly 
off ; but finding this impossible, it seemed anxious to perform its long journey 
on foot, and it was several times overtaken and brought back, after it had 
proceeded more than a mile, having crossed fences and plantations in a direct 
course northward. This propensity cost it its life : it had proceeded as far 
as the banks of the Cooper river, when it was shot by a person who supposed 
it to be a wild bird. 
In the latter part of the autumn of 1832, whilst I was walking with my 
wife, in the neighbourhood of Boston in Massachusetts, I observed on the 
road a young Snow Goose in a beautiful state of plumage, and after making 
some inquiries, found its owner, who was a gardener. He would not part 
with it for any price offered. Some weeks after, a friend called one morning 
and told me this gardener had sent his Snow Goose to town, and that it 
would be sold by auction that day. I desired my friend to attend the sale, 
which he did ; and before a few hours had elapsed, the bird was in my posses- 
sion, having been obtained for seventy-five cents ! W e kept this Goose several 
months in a small yard at the house where we boarded, along with the young 
of the Sand-hill Crane, Grus Americana. It was fed on leates and thin 
stalks of cabbage, bread, and other vegetable substances. When the spring- 
approached, it exhibited great restlessness, seeming anxious to remove 
northward, as was the case with Dr. Bachman’s bird. Although the 
gardener had kept it four years, it was not white, but had the lower part of 
the neck and the greater portion of the back of a dark bluish tint, as repre- 
sented in the plate. It died before we left Boston, io the great regret of my 
family, as I had anticipated the pleasure of presenting it alive to my honoured 
and noble friend the Earl of Derby. 
There can be little doubt that this species breeds in its grey plumage, 
when it is generally known by the name of Blue-winged Goose, as is the 
case with the young of Grus Americana , formerly considered as a distinct 
Bpecies, and named Grus Canadensis. 
Snow Goose, Anas hyperborea, Wils. Airier. Orn., vol. viii. p. 76. 
Anser hyperboreus, Bonap. Syn., p. 376. 
Snow Goose, Nutt. Man., p. 344. 
Anser hyperboreus, Snow Goose , Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 467. 
Snow Goose, Anser hyperboreus, Aud. Orn. Biog\, vol. iv. p. 562 . 
Male, 31f, 62. Female, 26, 55. 
