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Show . ,5V.;. : ' fUlit L -K-' " A GOSLINGS A A subtle change has swept across the forests and wetlands. The shout and bravado of spring has melted into the quieter I fullnessof summer. The air hums with the songs of a thousand insects but the ringing of bird calls the bluster of courtships1 1 and territorial squabbles that filled the land a short turn of the season ago have now vanished. In their place, new purposes I begin to unfold as the wildfolk turn their attention to the secretive task of rearing their young. I Wild geese are very family oriented creatures. Adult geese mate for life, nest in the same location year after year and U migrate together in family flocks. Unlike songbirds, baby geese or goslings are born precocial. That is the young are covered ( I with warm down and can swim and feed themselves shortly after tumbling from their eggs. They need constant watching I though until fully feathered and strongly winged for nothing is quite so tempting to a predator as a fat, down goo I nest site or brood is threatened, adult geese repond either by directly attacking the antagonist or by feigning a crippled wing in a quite convincing attempt to simulate "easy pickings' ' while at the same time leading the intruder away from the I . vulnerable nest or giving the goslings time to hide themselves in the grass. I |