100 Geese which occur tn California. {ZOE 
- WuirtE-cHEEKED Goose. Branta canadensis occidentalis. This 
is the ‘‘ Honker’”’ of California hunters. 
It is abundant in the State in winter, though not nearly as nu- 
merous as several other kinds of geese. It seldom arrives before 
the middle of November, sometimes considerably later, and not un- 
til comparatively cold weather sets in. It begins to leave usually 
about the middle of March, and I have seen a flock going east over 
the snow-covered Sierra Nevada as early as Feb. 22, 1887, during 
a mild sunny morning when I was hunting just below the snow line 
in Calaveras County, as I have often seen them going here and in 
Yuba County under similar conditions. 
In Partial List of Birds of Central California, Iam credited with 
the statement that this goose comes to this State and leaves it about 
same time that the American white-fronted goose does—one of 
the very few errors in that paper, which was otherwise very satis- 
factory to me. In that paper I mention that I have often seen this 
goose crossing the mountains (and leaving) about the middle of 
March, which partly corrects the error which must have occurred 
by an incorrect reading of my writing. I have not seen this goose 
as far south as San Diego County, but Mr. Morgan told me he had 
seen a flock of about a dozen at La Hoya, twelve miles north of 
_ San Diego, and had shot several of them. 
1 first saw it in market at Stockton Nov. 11, 1880, Nov. 23, 1881; 
at Gridley, Dec. 2, 1885. 
It breeds sparingly in a large marsh at Tallac Point, Lake Tahoe, 
or did so recently; at Pyramid Lake and other lakes in the Great 
Basin, on the east slope of the Sierra, and is the only goose which 
is known to breed in any part of California. Its breeding habitat 
is much more southern than that of any other of the geese. 
Mr. Fannin, in his Check List of Birds of British Columbia, re- 
fers to a single specimen taken in the interior of B. C.,from which I 
conclude that he considers it rare in the province. 
CAaCKLING Goose. Branta canadensis minima. This, the smallest 
goose of the honker color, is perhaps more abundant than any 
goose found inthe State. On Butte Creek, a favorite resort for geese 
especially when they first arrive from the north, I am confident that 
I have seen a half a million of these geese in a single day. They 
arrive there from the first to the tenth of October; were already nu- 
merous Oct. 1, 1884. In the fall of 1891 it was in considerable force 
there, about two weeks before hutchinsii arrived. 
