CANADA GEESE 
Widely distributed throughout North America, this largest of geese is 
known in the West as the honker, owing to its sonorous and varied honking. 
In the North it is known as the gray goose, and in Quebec as the outarde. 
Hunters in many regions claim to have brought down twenty-pounders, and 
fourteen pounds is a common weight. The gray honkers are readily recog¬ 
nized by their white cheek-patches. 
Canada geese breed only after attaining their third year. Their breed¬ 
ing grounds extend from Alaska to Labrador and formerly south from Ore¬ 
gon to Massachusetts. They once bred in numbers on Anticosti Island in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Honkers are remarkable for the varied sites they 
choose for nesting, usually clumps of grass in the marshes, but frequently 
cliffs and trees. Often they occupy the tree-nests of ospreys who have de¬ 
parted for their winter homes. With the return of these hawks great fights 
have been known to break out, ending most often in a victory for the ospreys 
who lay their eggs next to those of the geese and begin to incubate. 
The male goose does not help sit on the eggs but stands by to defend 
the nest. Five to nine pale greenish eggs are laid, and the young are able 
at birth to eat, walk and swim. 
In the autumn Canada geese fly southward to unfrozen waters, their 
winter habitat extending from New Jersey to California and southward. 
They fly in wedge formation, usually making their way along the coast, 
following familiar landmarks. 
These birds live in salt flats, tidal streams and marshy ponds, feeding 
largely on vegetable matter except for the sand and gravel they swallow 
to aid their digestion. Either they feed on shore, where they pluck up 
grasses or other plants, or they swim along the shallows, bringing their 
food up from the bottom by thrusting down their heads. 
When intruded upon, these geese will hiss, necks outstretched, and 
strike with their wings. They are much sought after as game but difficult 
to shoot owing to their extreme wariness. 
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