WILD FOWL. 
65 
travellers, and soon disappeared. In the succeeding autumn, 
the Wild Geese, as was usual, returned from the northward in 
great numbers, to pass the winter in our bays and rivers ; Mr. 
Platt happening to be standing in his yard, when a flock passed 
directly over his barn. At that instant he observed three Geese 
detach themselves from the rest, and after wheeling round seve¬ 
ral times, alighted in the middle of the yard. Imagine his sur¬ 
prise and pleasure, when, by certain well-remembered signs, he 
recognized in one of these three Geese, his long-lost fugitive 
It was she, indeed; she had travelled many hundred miles to 
the lakes—had there hatched and reared her offspring, and had 
now returned with her little family, to share the sweets of civi¬ 
lized life. The truth of the foregoing relation can be attested 
by many respectable people, to whom Mr. Platt has related the 
circumstances, as above detailed. The birds were all living, and 
in his possession about a year ago, and had shown no disposi¬ 
tion whatever to leave him.’ ”— Wilson’s American Ornithology. 
HUTCHINS’ GOOSE. 
Anser Hutchinsii. Hutchins’ Bernacle Goose ; Sw. fy Rich. Hutch¬ 
ins’ Goose , Anser Hutchinsii; Aud. Orn. Biog. 
“ Specific Character. —Bill from the comer of the mouth to 
the end, one inch and nine-sixteenths; length of tarsi, two 
inches and seven-sixteenths; head and upper part of the neck 
black ; cheeks white. Adult with the bill black ; head and up¬ 
per part of the neck glossy black; a white patch on the sides 
of the head and neck, similar to A. Canadensis; upper parts 
brownish-gray, the feathers margined with paler; lower parts 
pale grayish-brown, margined with yellowish-brown ; abdomen 
and lower tail coverts white ; tail of sixteen feathers, of a deep 
brown color, as are the primary quills; feet and claws black. 
Length twenty-seven inches, wing sixteen. 
“ At the eastern extremity of Long Island, this species is not 
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