62 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



able to discuss them together. As far as we were able to learn, 

 the Aleuts have only one name for this general type of goose. 

 However, the Eskimos at Hooper Bay distinguish between these 

 two forms, and they have a distinctive name for each form. 



It should be noted here that in much of the previous work with 

 these birds, the name hutchinsi was used to identify the form 

 that we now call leucopareia (A.O.U. Check List) ; and this 

 change has resulted in considerable confusion and misunderstand- 

 ing of the literature. 



It is certain that 2 forms of the white-cheeked geese nest in the 

 Aleutians, but there is a question about the taxonomic rank to 

 accord these 2 forms. As to considering them races of the 

 same species, I agree with Bent (19,25) that "Both the cackling 

 goose [minima] and the Hutchins goose [leucopareia] are said to 

 breed on the Aleutian Islands, but it seems hardly likely that these 

 two subspecies should occupy the same breeding range." 



The situation we find here supports Taverner's conclusion 

 (1931) and the findings of Aldrich (1946) that we have two 

 species. Aldrich has proposed that the smaller species includes 

 three subspecies: true hutchinsii (not leucopareia), minima, and 

 asiatica, and that B. canadensis includes the other subspecies of 

 this group. On June 23, 1911, a female was collected on Attu 

 Island by R. H. Beck, which Bent (1925) recorded as minima. On 

 June 13, 1937, John H. Steenis collected a male goose of this 

 group on Agattu Island. These specimens were studied by Aldrich, 

 and he agreed that the Attu specimen was true minima, and that 

 the one from Agattu was equally typical of leucopareia. 



At Hooper Bay (south of Yukon Delta), we found the Alaskan 

 cackling goose (minima) nesting nearest the sea, while the lesser 

 Canada goose (leucopareia) nested farther inland, though the 

 two nesting ranges were adjacent. Two groups of Eskimos, an 

 inland group and a coastal group, with slightly differing dialects, 

 both recognized these two species of geese as different and had 

 a name for each. With two geese populations nesting in such 

 close proximity, without space for "intergrades," it would be 

 illogical to consider them subspecies, aside from the facts shown 

 by examination of characters. In the Aleutian district, these two 

 species occupy ranges similar to the kinds in the Hooper Bay 

 district. 



Former numbers — Turner found "thousands" of geese on the 

 Near Islands, of which Agattu and Semichi were the chief breed- 

 ing grounds. They nested on Unaska, Amlia, Atka, Adak, 

 Kanaga, Tanaga, Kiska, Buldir, Semichi, and Agattu. On some 



