ANSERINyE — THE GEESE — BERNICLA. 469 



wary, and kept well out of gunshot range. On the 21st of June I found the first 

 nest with eggs in lat. 82° 33' N. ; subsequently many were found. When the young 

 are hatched the parent birds and broods congregate on the lakes, or in open Avater- 

 spaces near the shore, in large flocks ; by the end of July the old birds were moulting, 

 and unable to fly, so that they were easily secured. . . . The flesh of this bird is most 

 excellent. The gander remains in the vicinity of the nest while the goose is sitting, 

 and accompanies the yovmg brood. In one instance, where I killed a female as she 

 left her nest, the gander came hissing at me." 



Dr. Walker met Avith this Goose on the coast of Greenland, near Godthaab, and 

 afterward, in the mouth of Bellot's Strait, saw it moving northward in May. Some 

 of these birds constructed nests on the cliffs Avhich form the sides of the Strait. 



According to Mr. Barnston, this Goose is the Calleivcqnmaw of the Cree Indians ; 

 and is still but little cared for at Hudson's Bay. He speaks of it as keeping out to 

 sea, on the shoals, near low-water mark. It arrives the latest of all the birds of its 

 family. 



According to Professor Keinhardt, it is one of the common birds of Greenland, 

 where, on the entire coast occupied by the Danish settlements, it appears only on its 

 passage to or from its breeding-places, which must be in very high latitude — at the 

 least north of the seventy-third parallel. 



Professor Alfred Newton states (" Ibis," 1865) that on Parry's Expedition one of 

 its nests, containing two eggs, was obtained at Eoss Inlet, latitude 80° 48' N., on 

 the 16th of June, which Avas at that time probably the most northern land ever visited 

 by man. It was then also seen in large flocks about Walden and Little Table Islands. 

 Dr. Malmgren found it breeding on the Depot Holme, Spitzbergen, and also on the 

 shore of the mainland and in Treurenberg Bay, shoAving that Professor Torell was in 

 error in stating that it only breeds on islets. 



Sir James Eoss states that the Brant Goose did not remain near Felix Harbor to 

 breed, but Avent still farther north ; and that during the summer months it Avas only 

 seen in the highest northern latitudes that Avere visited. It Avas found breeding on 

 Parry's Islands, in latitude 74° and 75°. Captain Seoresby reported that it was not 

 common at Spitzbergen ; but Messrs. Evans and Sturge, in their visit to that group 

 of islands, found it breeding in immense numbers, and reported the ground covered 

 Avith its nests. These Avere constructed on the beach, and Avere perfect masses of 

 doAvn and feathers, in Avhich three or four eggs Avere buried. This Avas on the South 

 Cape Islands. 



Mr. G. Gillett found this species quite common in MattheAv's Strait, Nova Zembla ; 

 Von Heuglin also saAV it in large flocks at the same place ; and Von Baer mentions its 

 occurrence on Nova Zembla, and adds that it is not considered by the Eussians to be 

 a Goose. It collects in much greater numbers upon the Island of KolgujcAA^, Avhere ex- 

 peditions are sent to kill and salt these birds. A merchant of Archangel informed 

 Von Baer that on one occasion fifteen thousand Geese were killed there in tAvo hunts. 

 Middendorff enumerates it as one of the birds of Arctic Siberia, occurring only in the 

 extreme north. 



Mr. Boardman informs me that this bird is common in the fall about Macey's Bay, 

 in the Bay of Fundy. It occurs in A'arying numbers on the Ncav Eiigland coast, both 

 in the spring and fall, and is especially abundant on Cape Cod in the spring, or from 

 March to ]\Iay. 



Mr. W. Hapgood, in a A^ery full account of the habits of this species (" Forest and 

 Stream," Sept. 2, 1875), states that in ordinary seasons Brant begin to be common at 

 Cape Cod early in March, and continue coming and going until the end of April. At 



