Chantilly." Thus has America already added to the stock of domestic fowls two species, the turkey and the Canada goose, superior to most in size, and inferior to none in usefulness; for it is acknowledged by an English naturalist of good observation, that this last species "is as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in every respect as valuable as the common goose."

The strong disposition of the wounded wild geese to migrate to the north in the spring has already been taken notice of. Instances have occurred where, their wounds having healed, they have actually succeeded in mounting into the higher regions of the air and joined a passing party to the north; and, extraordinary as it may appear, I am well assured by the testimony of several respectable persons who have been eye-witnesses to the fact, that they have been also known to return again in the succeeding autumn to their former habitation.

"Mr. Platt, a respectable farmer on Long Island, being out shooting in one of the bays which, in that part of the country abound with water-fowl, wounded a wild goose. Being wingtipped and unable to fly, he caught it and brought it home alive. It proved to be a female; and turning it into his yard with a flock of tame geese, it soon became quite tame and familiar and in a little time its wounded wing entirely healed. In the following spring, when the wild geese migrated to the northward, a flock passed over Mr. Platt's barnyard, and just at that moment their leader happening to sound his bugle-note, our goose, in whom its new habits and enjoyments had not quite extinguished the love of liberty, and remembering the well-known sound, spread its wings, mounted into the air, joined the travelers and soon disappeared. In the succeeding autumn the wild geese (as was usual) returned from the northward in great numbers to pass the winter in our bays and rivers. Mr. Platt happened to be standing in his yard when a flock passed directly over his barn. At that instant he observed three geese detach themselves from the rest and after wheeling round several times alight in the middle of the yard. Imagine his surprise and pleasure, when by well remembered signs he recognized

in one of the three his long-lost fugitive. It was she indeed. She had traveled many hundred miles to the lakes; had there hatched and reared her offspring; and had now returned with her little family to share with them the sweets of civilized life.

"The truth of the foregoing relation can be attested by many respectable people, to whom Mr. Platt has related the circumstances as above detailed. The birds were all living and in his possession about a year ago and had shown no disposition whatever to leave him."

The length of this species is three feet; extent, five feet two inches; the bill is black; irides, dark hazel; upper half of the neck, black, marked on the chin and lower part of the head with a large patch of white, its distinguishing character; lower part of the neck, before white; back and wing-coverts, brown, each feather tipped whitish; rump and tail black; tail coverts and vent white; primaries black, reaching to the extremity of the tail; sides, pale ashy brown; legs and feet, blackish ash.

The male and female are exactly alike in plumage.

KILLDEER PLOVER.

This restless and noisy bird is known to almost every habitant of the United States, being a common and pretty constant resident. During the severity of winter, when snow covers the ground, it retreats to the seashore, where it is found at all seasons; but no sooner have the rivers broken up than its shrill note is again heard, either roaming about high in the air, tracing the shore of the river, or running amidst the watery flats and meadows. As spring advances it resorts to the newly plowed fields or level plains bare of grass, interspersed with shallow pools; or, in the vicinity of the sea, dry, bare, sandy fields. In some such situation it generally chooses to breed about the beginning of May. The nest is usually slight, a mere hollow, with such material drawn in around it as happen to be near, such as bits of sticks, straw, pebbles or earth. In one instance, I found the nest of this bird paved with fragments of clam and oyster shell, and very neatly surrounded

with a mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and curious manner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever of a nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream or yellowish clay color, thickly marked with blotches of black. They are large for the size of the bird, measuring more than an inch and a half in length, and a full inch in width, tapering to a narrow point at the great end.

Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds during the breeding season. Their cries of "killdeer, killdeer," as they winnow the air overhead, dive and course around you, or run along the ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and incessant. The moment they see a person approach, they fly or run to attack him with their harassing clamor, continuing it over so wide an extent of ground, that they puzzle the pursuer as to the particular spot where the nest or young are concealed; very much resembling, in this respect, the lapwing of Europe. During the evening and long after dusk, particularly in the moonlight, their cries are frequently heard with equal violence, both in the spring and fall. From this circumstance, and their flying about both after dusk and before dawn, it appears probable that they see better at such times than most of their tribe. They are known to feed much on worms, and many of these rise to the surface during the night. The prowling of owls may also alarm their fears for their young at those hours; but whatever may be the cause, the facts are so.

The killdeer is more abundant in the Southern States in winter

than in summer. Among the rice fields, and even around the planters' yards in South Carolina, I observed them very numerous in the months of February and March. There the negro boys frequently practice the barbarous mode of catching hem with a line, at the extremity of which is a crooked pin with a worm on it. Their flight is something like that of a tern, but more vigorous; and they sometimes rise to a great height in the air. They are fond of wading in pools of water, and frequently bathe themselves during the summer. They usually stand erect on their legs and run or walk with their body in a stiff horizontal position; they run

with great swiftness, and are also strong and vigorous in the wings. Their flesh is eaten by some, but is not in general esteem, though others say that in the fall, when they become very fat, it is excellent.

During the extreme droughts of summer these birds resort to the gravelly channel of brooks and shallow streams, where they can wade about in search of aquatic insects. At the close of summer they generally descend to the seashore, in small flocks, seldom more than ten or twelve being seen together. They are then more serene and silent as well as difficult to be approached.

The killdeer is ten inches long and twenty inches in extent; the bill is black; frontlet, chin and ring around the neck, white; fore part of the crown and auriculars from the bill backwards, blackish olive; eyelids bright scarlet; eye, very large and of a full black; from the center of the eye backward, a stripe of white; round the lower part of the neck is a broad band of black, below that a band of white, succeeded by another rounding band or crescent of black; rest of the lower parts, pure white; crown and hind head, light olive brown; back, scapulars and wing-coverts, olive brown, skirted with brownish yellow; primary quills, black, streaked across the middle with white; bastard wing, tipped with white; greater coverts, broadly tipped with white; rump and tail-coverts, orange; tail, tapering, dull orange, crossed near the end with a broad bar of black, and tipped with orange, the two middle feathers near an inch longer than the adjoining ones; legs and feet, a pale light clay color. The tertials, as usual in this tribe, are very long, reaching nearly to the tips of the primaries; exterior toe joined by a membrane to the middle one as far as the first joint.

QUAIL OR PARTRIDGE.

This well-known bird is a general inhabitant of North America, from the northern parts of Canada and Nova Scotia, in which latter place it is said to be migratory, to the extremity of the Peninsula of Florida, and was seen in the neighborhood of the Great Osage Village in the interior of Louisiana. They are numerous