I§!
+* CANADA G.
D escription,
Place And
Manners.
at Madagafcar *. As to the colour of the crefi, or knob, it can
be no objeftion : it is poffible that this part may be red while in
the living ftate, and grow pale on the death of the bird.
Anas Canadenlis, Lin. SjJt. i. p. 198. 14.— Phil. Tranf. lxii. p. 412.
L’Oye fauvage dc Canada. Brif. Orn. vi. p. 272. 4. pi. 26. PI- Enl.
346-
L’Oie a cravate, Buf. Oif. ix. p. 82.
Canada Goofe, Rail Sja. p. 139. 10. p. 191. 9.— Will. Orn• p. 361. pi.
70 f .— Caujb. Car. i. pi. 92.— Sloan. Jam. ii. p. 323* 6. Bd’W. pi.
151.— ArS. Zool. N° 471.
Br. Mnf. Lev. Muf. .
HIS is bigger than a tame Goofe: meafures three feet fix inches
in length : and weighs nine pounds. The bill is two inches
and a half long, and black: irides hazel: the head and neck are
black: under the throat is a broad white band, like a crefcent,
the horns palling on each fide upwards to the hind head: the
breaft, upper part of the. belly, back, and wing coverts, are
dulky brown: lower part of the neck and belly, vent, and upper
tail coverts, white: quills and tail black ■ legs dark lead-
colour.
Inhabits North America. Found, during the fummer, in Hud-
fon’s Bay, and parts beyond; alfo in Greenland J j and, in the
fummer months, in various parts of North America, as far as
Carolina. Numbers breed at Hudfon’s Bay, and lay fix or feven
eggs; but the major part retire ftill farther north. Their firft
appearance in the Bay is from about themiddle of April to about
* Flacourt Madag, p. 165. -J- Called by miftake Swan-Goofe.
X Faun, Groenl,
the
the middle of May *, when the inhabitants wait for them with
expeftation, being one of the chief articles for food, and many
years kill as far as three or four thoufand, which are faked and
barrelled. The Indians, and frequently the fervants of the Eng-
lijh, form a row of huts, made of boughs, at a mufquet-fhot dif-
tance each, acrofs the parts they are expefted to pafs; and, as
the flock fly over, they mimic their noife fo well as to flop the
Geefe in their flight; when each perfon, having two guns, fires
the firft, and diretftly after the fecond ; by this means' a good
markfman has’ been known to kill two hundred in a day. In
this fport they mull be very cautious to fecrete themfelves, for
the birds are very Ihy, and, on the lead motion, fly off direftly f .
On their return fouth, which is from the middle of Augufi to
the middle of Otlober, much havoc is made among them, but
thefe are preferved frefh for winter ftore, by putting them, feathers
and all, into a large hole dug in the ground, and covering
them with mould ; and thefe, during the whole time of the frofts
lafting, are found perfeQdy fweet and good. The Indians at
Hudfon’s Bay call them Apiftifkijh J.
This fpecies is now pretty common in a tame ftate, both on
the continent and in England; on the Great Canal, at Verfailles,
hundreds are leen, mixing with the Swans with the greateft cordiality;
and the fame at Chantilly.. In England, likewife, they
* The month in which the Geefe appear is called by the Indians, Goofe
Month,
f Ar5l. Zocl
J The Frenchwhile in p e ffe ffio n of Canada, ufed to call thefe by the name
of Outarde, or Bufiard; but this has lately been applied to one found in Falkland's
JJles. See p. 440. N° 5.
3 M 2 arc