Cassell's book of birds; vol. 4Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 4
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
The Canada Goose arrives in the western districts of that country about
the beginning of September, and frequents the lakes, rivers, and wet
savannahs of the interior as well as the sea-shore. These birds usually
feed by plunging their head and the fore parts of their body beneath
the surface, but never by diving. In the fields they pluck the grass
sideways, like the Domestic Goose, and pat the earth with their feet
to drive the earthworms from their retreats. They frequently alight in
corn-fields to feed on the tender blades, and everywhere are extremely
vigilant. While the flock reposes, sentinels are placed on the watch to
rouse their sleeping companions if danger should approach. If pursued into
the water, the Ganders utter loud cries, and in a few moments they rise
simultaneously, and fly off in a compact body.
"So acute," says Audubon, "is their sense of hearing, that they are
able to distinguish the different sounds or footsteps of their foes
with astonishing accuracy. Thus the breaking of a stick by a deer is
distinguished from the same accident occasioned by a man. If a dozen large
turtles drop into the water, making a great noise in their fall, or if
the same effect has been produced by an alligator, the Wild Goose pays
no regard to it, but however faint and distant may be the sound of an
Indian's paddle that may by accident have struck the side of his canoe,
it is at once marked, every individual raises its head and looks intently
towards the place from which the noise has proceeded, and in silence all
watch the movements of their enemy. I was much surprised one day, while on
the coast of Labrador, to see how cunningly one of these birds, which in
consequence of the moult was quite unable to fly, managed for awhile to
elude our pursuit. It was first perceived at some distance from the shore,
when the boat was rowed towards it, and it swam before us with great
speed, making directly towards the land; but when we came within a few
yards of it, it dived, and nothing could be seen of it for a long time.
Every one of the party stood on tip-toe, to mark the spot where it should
rise, but all in vain, when the man at the rudder accidentally looked down
over the stern, and then saw the Goose, its body immersed, the point of
its bill alone above water, and its feet busily engaged in propelling it
so as to keep pace with the movements of the boat. The sailor attempted
to catch it while within a foot or two of him, but with the swiftness
of thought it shifted from side to side, fore and aft, until, delighted
at having witnessed so much sagacity in a Goose, I begged the party to
suffer the poor bird to escape." The residents in Hudson's Bay eagerly
welcome the arrival of these birds, on which they depend for their winter
supply of provisions. Huts are built over the marshes where they feed, and
decoys set up to lure them to destruction. In some years as many as three
thousand or four thousand have been killed in Hudson's Bay, and salted for
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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