Mr. Henderson describes in his notes an interesting habit or pose assumed by this species, as follows:I rode down the river a short distance to where I had noticed a pair of geese alight and soon saw one standing on a gravelly island. Making a short detour and riding closer, I saw both birds lying flat on the gravel, head and neck outstretched along the ground, precisely as they do on the nest. They were hiding right in the open without the slightest cover. Though I have what is called the hunter's eye pretty well developed, it is doubtful if I would have noticed them if I had not previously known they were there. They remained perfectly motionless and resembled pieces of water-worn driftwood so perfectly that I now understand how it was that in descending rivers in a canoe I had so often failed to observe them until they took wing. It was the most beautiful example of protective coloring I have ever seen. As I rode up to the river bank in plain sight and making a good deal of noise, one bird remained perfectly still and the other moved its head slightly to watch me. I then rode out into the river to within 35 yards before they broke the pose and took to flight.M. P. Skinner has noticed similar habits in Yellowstone Park. He says in his notes:Geese have a curious habit of playing possum. Instead of flying away, they squat flat with head and neck stretched out straight before them in a most ungooselike attitude. After one has passed by three or four hundred yards they raise their heads slowly an inch or two at a time and finally get to their feet again. They do this on the ice, on stony banks of streams, on boulders, on sandbars, in the grass, and I have even seen a sitting bird do it on her nest. On the ice it makes them inconspicuous, on stony shores or boulders the deception is perfect, for the rounded gray back looks just like a stone; as sand beaches may have stones, the method is good hiding there; but on the grass "playing possum" fails because of the contrast. In the water's edge the deception is good, as the inert, idly rocking body looks very little like a live bird. And this method is carried even further, for I have seen geese swim the Yellowstone River with heads and necks at the surface and have had them sneak off through the grass in the same way. This subterfuge is used more in spring than in summer, but is practiced sometimes in September and October.
