spring. ; The Canada Goose generally builds .its* best -on thé
ground, hut some pairs- occasionally breed on thé banks of
the Saskatchewan in’ trees, depositing' their eggs in' the desertedf
nests of raye& or fishing.eaglesU Its call is imitated
by a prolonged nasal pronunciation of the-4yllable wook frequently
repeated.”? The Canada- Goose is .well known to the
ornithologists of the Unitèd St$t?s. i
, ’ The beak is black; the irides'tery dark brown;..head,~nnd
nearly all the neck, black ; chin. and throat white, extending
upwards, and ending in a point behind the ear-coverts. This
white patch, from its similarity in colour.-* and position tp- a
neckcloth; has given-origin to one of the names of this specie’s,
the Cravat Goose. The back and the- wibg-coverts, the
secondaries; Rnd> tertials, * brown, the feathers, of all these,except
thâ first, with lighter coloured' edges ; primaries . and ..tail?
feathers blacky “the rump -also Mackr; ; the upper' taibboybrts
white ; lower part of. the nèck almost*white v -breast and belly
pale brown ; vent and under ; tail-coverts white-* ; , Legs,. toes,
and interdigital membranes dark lead colour, almost black.
r The whole : length nf an adult bird, according-to Dr. Richardson,
forty-one or forty-two-inches ; the length of the wing,
from-the carpal joint to th e . end of the longest quill-feather,
nineteen inches and a half,
i Females are smaller than the males,
v From the swan-like length of neck, and the large size of
this : species, some authors have included ftteÿân thé genus
Cygnus. The organ of voice is also like .that of the, Mute
Swan, to be hereafter .-described and figured. I shall have
occasion also, hereafter, to refer to-the relations which certain
of the Geese exhibit to the Swans, and to each of the two
great divisions of the true Ducks.
h o o p e r ; 97
KATATORES. ANATIDÆ.
T H E HOOPER,
E l k , o r W h i s t l i n g S w a n .
Anas oygnus, WildSwan','' Benn. Brit. Zool. vol. ii. p. 218.
j V, ferus, , r ~ , , Mont. Ornith. Diet.
M », ,> Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol.ii. p. 281.
Cygnus ferus) . » . Flem. Brit. An. p. 126.
,, Whistling ,, Selby, Brit. Ornith.. vol. ii. p. 278.
)t n ,, Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 227. -
„ „ ,, GoulDj Birds of Europej pt. xv.
Anas cygnus, Cygne sauvage, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. t. ii. p, 828.
Cygnus musicus ,, ,, », »» >> pt. iv. p. 526.
Cygnus. Generic Characters.— Beak of equal breadth throughout its
length; higher than wide at the base; depressed at the point; both mandibles
furnished along the .sides,with transverse serrated latnellse. Nostrils oblong,
lateral, near the middle, of the beak. Neck slender and very long. Legs
short, the hind toe small and free.