72 NORTH AMERICAlSr DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 



Branta canadensis (Linn.). Canada Goose. 



Breeding range. — The principal summer home of the Canada goose 

 is the interior of Canada, from Saskatchewan and Alberta north to the 

 limit of trees. Eastward it breeds conmionly in the interior of Ungava 

 and rarely on the coast as far north as Okak and Ungava Bay. It 

 is not a rare ])reeder in Newfoundland, and is fairly common on the 

 islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and thence west through Quebec 

 and northern Ontario to the southern end of James Bay. An}' occur- 

 rences south of this district must be considered accidental or casual, 

 though it has been recorded as nesting at Lexington, Mass., April, 

 1888, and once at Hartland, Vt. 



In the interior of North America the breeding range extends some- 

 what farther south. A hundred years ago the species bred commonly 

 in all the northern third of the Mississippi Valley and not uncom- 

 monl}' to the latitude of St. Louis. Now the number of pairs breed- 

 ing south of the latitude of central Iowa is very small, though even of 

 late years the Canada goose has been known to breed at Samburg and 

 at Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee, which seem to be the most southern 

 localities known east of the Rocky Mountains. A few breed in Ken- 

 tucky, and the number increases slightly in Indiana and Illinois and 

 the southern third of Michigan and Wiscondn. North of this and 

 throughout much of Minnesota the species is a regular and not uncom- 

 mon summer resident. The Canada goose formerly bred in Kansas; 

 now it breeds rarely in Nebraska and southern South Dakota; regu- 

 larly in North Dakota and northward. The species still breeds in the 

 northern third of Colorado, in northern Utah, northern Nevada, south- 

 ern Oregon and northward. A half century ago it was recorded as 

 breeding as far south as southern New Mexico. The western boundary 

 of the breeding range extends from the interior of British Columbia 

 to the upper Yukon and to Fort Yukon, with a few stragglers west to 

 the Yukon mouth. 



Winter range. — The principal winter home is the southern half of 

 the Mississippi Yalle}^ west of the Mississippi River, but the species is 

 not rare in the eastern United States from Florida to Maryland, occa- 

 sionally to Massachusetts, and is recorded during the winter in Maine, 

 Nova Scotia, Quebec, and even in Newfoundland. The normal winter 

 range in the interior extends to southern Indiana and southern Illinois, 

 but a few have been noted in winter in Ohio, southern Ontario, south- 

 ern Michigan, southern Wisconsin, Nebraska, southern Colorado, and 

 southern Utah. The winter home mcludes all of the Pacific coast region 

 north to British Columbia, but in California typical B. canadensis 

 inhabits the interior rather than the seashore. The Canada o-oose is an 

 accidental visitant to the Bermudas and to the West Indies (Jamaica 

 and probablv St. Croix). 



Spring inigration. — More records on the movements of the Canada 



