ANA'I‘ID/E. 73

taken at \Vlieatley River, by Mr. William Stead, October 7th, 1885, and is now in a private collect- ion in Charlottetown.

When the first soft skies of March bow tenderly over the broken fields of snow, and the bared head—lands stand red and flaming above the crystal floor of the river, then, on the amber verge of the southern heaven, the faint lines of the Common Wild Goose are seen, and the deep—voiced flank of its flock— ing call sounds from afar, the advance herald of approaching spring. After two or three weeks, the \V—shaped lines of the flocks become quite common, as vast numbers press on to their breeding grounds in the North. When the ice breaks in the harbors, the flocks come into the dappled blue spaces, noisy and restless, gathering into larger flocks, composed of several hundred individuals, as April advances; and finally, at its close, nearly all disappear, leaving our hays to the humbler tribes of Ducks and Brant. While here, they feed largely on eel—grass (Val/{maria spz'm/z'x). Some few individuals have been known to breed here; and some remain during mild

winters.