selected by themselves for this purpose, without requiring or
receiving either care or food from man, that the Canada
Goose seemed to him to be entitled to a place in this work.*
The bird from which Bewick drew his figure of this species
was shot at St. Germain’s, in Cornwall, where other examples
have also been obtained; several have been shot at
different times in Hampshire ; and the Rev. Leonard Jenyns
states that large flocks have been observed in the fens of
Cambridgeshire in a state of liberty and independence.
Mr. Hancock states that one in his collection, killed on
Prestwick Car in June 1836, was an adult, with plumage
in excellent condition; nevertheless—he adds significantly
—on examination a piece of string was found tightly encircling
the leg above the true heel; proving that the bird had
been in captivity.
A writer in the Magazine of Natural History, vol. viii.
p. 255, says, “ In this neighbourhood (near Derby) we are
frequently visited by small flocks of the Canada Goose, which
always announce their approach by a loud noise, and, after
wheeling two or three times round the piece of water near
the house, they alight, and commence grazing. It frequently
happens that two remain when all the rest are flown, and
after reconnoitring the place for a few days, they usually fix
on the corner of an island as their nesting-place. Shortly
after the goslings have extricated themselves from their
brittle covering, they are conducted to the water by the
female, when they are joined by the male, who brings up the
rear. The little family remain together till the return of
the flock, when all mix promiscuously, recruit themselves
for a few days, and then depart. A pinioned female was
joined by a male. When they were approached, the male
did not fly away until he was pursued so closely as to be in
danger of being caught; he remained with his mate as long
as was consistent with his liberty ; when that was in danger,
and not till then, he deserted the female. Several of the
wild goslings were obtained in the season of 1832 ; two of
them passed into the hands of a neighbouring farmer, in
* The Editor does not share this opinion.
whose possession they have remained ever since. They
associate with his domesticated Grey Lag Geese, and are very
peaceable.” The late Charles Waterton has given an interesting
account of a similar nature, respecting a flock of pure
and half-bred birds, which annually visited Walton Hall,
followed by an amusing description of the union of a female
of this species with a male Bernacle. Montagu had observed
that the Canada Goose will breed with the common species,
and it has also bred with the Knobbed Goose.
Sir W. Jardine observes, in a note to his edition of
Wilson’s American Ornithology, “ On the beautiful piece of
water at Gosford House, the seat of the Earl of Wemyss,
Haddingtonshire, the Canadian Goose and many other
water birds rear their young freely. I have never seen any
artificial piece of water so beautifully adapted for the domestication
and introduction of every kind of water-fowl which
will bear the climate of Great Britain. Of very large extent,
it is embossed in beautiful shrubbery, perfectly recluse, and,
even in the nearly constant observance of a resident family,
several exotic species seem to look on it as their own. The
Canadian and Egyptian Geese both had young when I
visited it, and the lovely American Wood Duck, Aix sponsa,
seemed as healthy as if in her native waters.” Mr. J. H.
Gurney, jun., states that in Norfolk at least a hundred
Canada Geese live unpinioned on Gunton Lake, and there are
a great many more in the parks at Holkliam, Blickling, and
Melton. Similar instances might be multiplied indefinitely ;
but, believing as the Editor does, that all the Canada Geese
shot in Great Britain have resulted from artificial introduction,
he considers it unnecessary to enumerate any more of
the counties in which individuals of this species have paid
the usual penalty for straggling. Single birds and flocks
have occurred in Scotland, and in the Orkneys. In Ireland,
where the Goose is also kept in semi-captivity, but in far
smaller numbers than in England, its occurrences are dis-
pi'oportionally rare, notwithstanding the comparative proximity
of that island to North America !
The Canada Goose appears to vary enormously in size,
vol. iv. Q Q