BLACK BRANT. 81 



Brant reappear in the Gulf of St. Lawrence late in September, and 

 arrive at Long- Island about the middle of October. The}^ occupy less 

 than sixty days in retracini^ their flight over the course to cover which 

 in spring requires more than one hundred days. In the fall migration 

 great numbers pass south along the west shore of Hudson Bay, but as 

 the species is almost unknown in Manitoba and Ontario, these birds 

 must pass through northern Quebec to gain the Atlantic coast. 



Branta nigricans (Lawr. )■ Black Brant. 



Breeding range. — The principal known breeding ground of this 

 species is along the Arctic coast and islands in the vicinity of the mouth 

 of the Anderson River, Thence westward a smaller number breed at 

 Point Barrow. The species is common on the Siberian coast of the 

 Chukchi Peninsula and west to the New Siberian Islands. As stated 

 under the preceding species, it is probable that the brant breeding- 

 abundantly on Banks Land and in smaller numbers on Melville Island 

 belong to this species. 



Winter range. — The main body of the black brant winters on the 

 coast of California, especially at Bodega Bay and Tomales Bay. A few 

 pass as far south as San Quentin Bay and Cerros Island, Lower Cali- 

 fornia, and the species is known in winter north to the Straits of Juan 

 de Fuca. It penetrates inland to Pyramid and Washoe lakes, Nevada; 

 Malheur and Klamath lakes, Oregon, and on the Atlantic coast has 

 straggled to Chatham, Mass. ; Oneida Lake, New York; Islip and Great 

 South Ba}^, Long Island, and Long Beach, New Jersey. On the Asiatic 

 side the brant goes south in winter to Japan. 



Spring migration. — Brant begin to move northward in earl}^ March, 

 but proceed so slowly that it is the middle of May when they arrive 

 at the mouth of the Yukon, and the last of May when they reach 

 Kotzebue Sound; the dates of arrival at Point Barrow are June 13, 

 1882, June 7, 1883, and June 5, 1898; downy young were taken there 

 July 10, 1898. Most of the birds have left the California coast by the 

 last of April, and it is a little strange that one o'f the latest records 

 south of Alaska should come from Lower California, where several 

 brant were seen May 9 and 10 in San Quentin Bay. 



Instead of taking the long course around the northwest coast of 

 Alaska, some brant that nest near the mouth of the Mackenzie make 

 a short cut across the interior of Alaska, and the species is abundant 

 for a few days each spring at Fort Yukon and La Pierre House on its 

 way north and is seen each spring at Fort McPherson passing north 

 along Peel River. 



Fall migration. — Migrants return to the mouth of the Yukon from 

 the middle to the latter part of September, appear in British Columl)ia 

 a month later, and reach the California coast in November. The latest 

 dates for Point Barrow are September 21, 1882, and September 20, 

 1898. 



