Identifier: cu31924000070809 (find matches)
Title: Bird studies for home and school; sixty common birds, their habits and haunts
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: De Groat, Herman C
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Buffalo, N. Y., Herman C. De Groat
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
food with manyfamilies. Thousands are raised and sold in the marketsannually. The goose-feather bed, formerly used in every home,is not yet wholly displaced. Until the invention of steel pens,less than a hundred years ago, all the people of Europe andAmerica did their writing with pens madfe from goose-quills. In our country there are several kinds of wild Geese, thebest known of which is the Canada Goose, often called theCommon Wild Goose. This kind is seen by us during itsmigrations in early spring and late fall as it goes into theHudson Bay region for nesting, and again as it returns south-ward towards Mexico for its winter home. A journey of threethousand miles is made twice a year for the privilege of raisingthe young in the distant north. In their migrations, these birds fly in flocks under theleadership of a gander. They may be a^rranged in single file,but oftener they group themselves in two lines forming anangle like a half inverted V with the leader at the point. As 74 «*J
Text Appearing After Image:
they go, they utter a loud honk, honk which can be heard a mileaway. By doing this, they advertise their approach, and theskillful hunter frequently kills one or more of them as theflock passes over his head. In the spring migration, they oftenalight in the wheatfields of the Northern States to feed uponthe tender grain then but a few inches high. At night theystop on some lake or stream to rest and find food. After arriving at Hudson Bay, the birds remain togetherin flocks for three or four weeks, after which thfe matingoccurs and they all disappear in the marshes and swamps ofCanada where the nesting and the rearing of the young takeplace. As autumn approaches the old ones reappear on thewaters, bringing their young with them. The flocks are thenreformed and in September they start on their long journeysouthward. Sometimes while migrating, Wild Geese areseparated by storms and fogs. Bewildered, they descend tothe earth and occasionally mingle with tame flocks. If caughtand confined

Note About Images