G2 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
ments about St. George’s Day, O. S., and fly northward to nes¬ 
tle in security. They prefer islands to the continent, as farthei 
from the haunts of man. After such prodigious havoc as thus 
appears to be made among these birds, and the running the 
gauntlet, if I may so speak, for many hundreds of miles through 
such destructive fires, no wonder they should have become more 
scarce, as well as shy, by the time they reach the shores of the 
United States. 
“ Their first arrival on the coast of New Jersey is early in 
October, and their first numerous appearance is the sure prog¬ 
nostic of severe weather. Those which continue all winter, fre¬ 
quent the shallow bays and marsh islands, the principal food 
being the broad tender green leaves of a marine plant, which 
grows on stones and shells, and is usually called sea-cabbage; 
and also the roots of the sedge, which they are frequently ob¬ 
served in the act of tearing up. Every few days they make an 
excursion to the inlets on the beach for gravel. They cross in¬ 
discriminately over land or water, generally taking the nearest 
course to their object, differing in this respect from the Brant, 
which will often go a great way round by water, rather than 
cross on the land. They swim well, and if wing-broke, dive 
and go a long way under water, causing the sportsman a great 
deal of fatigue before he can kill them. Except in very calm 
weather, they rarely sleep on the water, but roost all night in 
the marshes. When the shallow bays are frozen, they seek the 
mouth of inlets near the sea, occasionally visiting the air-holes 
in the ice; but these bays are seldom so completely frozen, as 
to prevent them from feeding on the bars. 
“ The flight of the Wild Geese is heavy and laborious, gene¬ 
rally in a straight line, or in two lines approximating to a point, 
thus \>; in both cases, the van is led by an old gander, who 
every now and then pipes his well-known honk, as if to ask how 
they come on, and the honk of ‘ all’s well’ is generally returned 
by some of the party. Their course is in a straight line, with 
the exception of the undulations of the flight. When bewil¬ 
dered in foggy weather, they appear sometimes to be in great 
