have been waiting their arrival. Silent all night remains the flock, but
not inactive; with care they betake themselves to the grassy shores, where
they allay the cravings of appetite, and recruit their wasted strength.
Soon as the early dawn lightens the surface of the deep they rise into the
air, extend their lines, and proceed southward, until arriving in some place
where they think they may be enabled to rest in security, they remain
during the winter. At length, after many annoyances, they joyfully perceive
the return of spring, and prepare to fly away from their greatest
enemy man.
The Canada Goose often arrives in our Western and Middle Districts
as early as the beginning of September, and does not by any means confine
itself to the seashore. Indeed, my opinion is, that for every hundred
seen during the winter along our large bays and estuaries, as many thousands
may be found in the interior of the country, where they frequent
the large ponds, rivers, and wet savannahs. During my residence in the
State of Kentucky, I never spent a winter without observing immense
flocks of these birds, especially in the neighbourhood of Henderson, where
I have killed many hundreds of them, as well as on the Falls of the Ohio
at Louisville, and in the neighbouring country, which abounds in ponds
overgrown with grasses and various species of Nympheae, on the seeds of
which they greedily feed. Indeed all the lakes situated within a few miles
of the Missouri and Mississippi, or their tributaries, are still amply supplied
with them from the middle of autumn to the beginning of spring.
In these places, too, I have found them breeding, although sparingly.
It seems to me more than probable, that the species bred abundantly in
the temperate parts of North America before the white population extended
over them. This opinion is founded on the relations of many old
and respectable citizens of our country, and in particular of General
GEORGE CLARK, one of the first settlers on the banks of the Ohio, who,
at a very advanced age, assured me that, fifty years before the period
when our conversation took place (about seventy-five years from the present
time), wild geese were so plentiful at all seasons of the year, that he
was in the habit of having them shot to feed his soldiers, then garrisoned
near Vincennes, in the present State of Indiana. My father, who travelled
down the Ohio shortly after BRADOCK'S defeat, related the same to
me; and I, as well as many persons now residing at Louisville in Kentucky,
well remember that, twenty-five or thirty years ago, it was quite
easy to procure young Canada Geese in the ponds around. So late as
1819, I have met with the nests, eggs, and young of this species near
Henderson. However, as I have already said, the greater number remove
far north to breed. I have never heard of an instance of their
breeding in the Southern States. Indeed, so uncongenial to their constitution
seems the extreme heat of these parts to be, that the attempts made
to rear them in a state of domestication very rarely succeed.
The Canada Goose, when it remains with us to breed, begins to form
its nest in March, making choice of some retired place not far from the
water, generally among the rankest grass, and not unfrequently under a
bush. It is carefully formed of dry plants of various kinds, and is of a
large size, flat, and raised to the height of several inches. Once only did
1 find a nest elevated above the ground. It was placed on the stump of
a large tree, standing in the centre of a small pond, about twenty feet
high, and contained five eggs. As the spot was very secluded, I did not
disturb the birds, anxious as I was to see in what manner they should
convey the young to the water. But in this I was disappointed, for, on
going to the nest, near the time at which I expected the process of incubation
to terminate, I had the mortification to find that a racoon, or some
other animal, had destroyed the whole of the eggs, and that the birds had
abandoned the place. The greatest number of eggs winch I have found
in the nest of this species was nine, which I think is more by three than
these birds usually lay in a wild state. In the nests of those which I
have had in a domesticated state, I have sometimes counted as many as
eleven, several of them, however, usually proving unproductive. The
eggs measure, on an average, 3 | inches by are thick shelled, rather
smooth, and of a very dull yellowish-green colour. The period of incubation
is twenty-eight days. They never have more than one brood in a
seasonj unless their eggs are removed or broken at an early period
The young follow their parents to the water a day or two after they
have issued from the egg, but generally return to land to repose in the
sunshine in the evening, and pass the night there under their mother, who
employs all imaginable care to ensure their comfort and safety, as does
her mate, who never leaves her during incubation for a longer time than
is necessary for procuring food, and takes her place at intervals. Both
remain with their brood until the following spring. It is during the
breeding-season that the gander displays his courage and strength to the
greatest advantage. I knew one that appeared larger than usual, and of
which all the lower parts were of a rich cream colour. It returned three