THE CANADA GOOSE
There is a quality in the cry of the wild geese returning northward in the spring that stirs the blood of all to whom the “Red Gods” call. That wild and solemn clamor ringing down the sky is as “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” All eyes are turned to follow the baseless triangle drifting fast across the sky. What memories are awakened by that resounding call,—memories of open marsh or prairie, sounding shore and placid bay, lake or river, scenes of a wilderness of waters or of plains; for the wild goose is a bird of the waste places! Two hundred years ago it nested over the greater part of the continent; but civilization and market hunting have confined it now mainly to the vast morasses of the North, where it seeks some island in the marshy lands and there makes its nest.
RING-NECK PLOVER
This bird mother is brooding a chick.
The goose normally mates for life, and as its life is reckoned to last about one hundred years the partnership, barring accidents, is a long one; but life is full of accidents. The goose does not reach maturity early, and therefore does not breed for the first few years. The gander is not such a goose as he looks; for in his constant watch over mate, nest, and young he shows both courage and sagacity. He defends his mate and brood to the utmost extremity. He is said to be a victor sometimes over the crafty fox, and he easily drives away the deer or elk when his young are in danger. The goslings take to the water early; but they like to go ashore to feed on the green grass and herbage of the uplands, and there they often run into trouble. One of their greatest aquatic enemies is the snapping turtle. I have known one of these monsters to capture a full grown goose by catching its foot. In the fierce struggle that followed the goose escaped only by tearing its leg from the socket, and died a miserable death from the result of its fearful wound.
CANADA GOOSE
The male is standing and the female sitting.
When advancing winter seals the waters of their northern home, the geese gather in flocks, rise in air, and turn their faces to the south. They travel by well known landmarks, and unlike many sea fowl often become confused in a fog. Therefore, I believe they never intentionally fly out of sight of land; though they often cross wide bays and inlets.