LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 175 



points mentioned by Mr. Dionne are within sight of one another. In tlieir 

 vicinity probably all the greater snow geese in existence in a wild state gatlier 

 each spring and autumn. From the independent statements of various careful 

 observers, I should conclude that their number is now about five or six 

 thousand. When I visited St. Joachim on March 31, 1921, I saw about 2,000 

 greater snow geese there and was told that the maximum number would be 

 present about 10 days later. They are well protected by a resident warden 

 maintained by the Cap Tourmente Fish and Game Club. 



Kumlien (1879) "saw a few specimens in early spring and late 

 autumn '' at Cumberland Sound, where it was apparently " rare and 

 mifi^ratory."'' 



W. Elmer Ekblaw has sent me the followino; notes on the arrival 

 of these geese on their breeding grounds in northern Greenland : 



June is almost gone when the first snow geese arrive in northwest Green- 

 land. The land is almost bare of snow, the inland lakelets are open, and 

 rushing streams are flush to the brim with clear, cold water. Spring is at 

 its height when the snow geese come. The first notice of their arrival is a 

 high-pitched honk-honk, almost resembling the call of the domestic guinea fowl, 

 that rings out clear and sharp from the swales and valleys of the inland slopes. 

 The birds fly low and swift, their gleaming white plumage dazzlingly con- 

 spicuous against the dark-brown hills. When they fly near, the black tips of 

 their wings are easily recognizable. They stalk regally about the lakelets 

 and along the streams like the snow king's soldiers, stately and dignified. They 

 are mated when they arrive in the North, and though they stay in flocks 

 most of the time, they pair as soon as they alight, either on land or in water. 

 Wherever they appear they grace the landscape. 



On July, 2, 1914, I watched a flock of 10 at close range while they fed in 

 a small shallow pool in which Pleuropoyan and Hippurifi grew abundantly. 

 There were 5 pairs in the flock, and though they did not separate far, the 

 pairs kept somewhat to themselves as they floated idly about in the pool or 

 marched about the shore. Tliey apparently found food on the bottom of the 

 pool, because they dipped under much like canvasbacks feeding on wild celery. 

 I watched them for at least an hour, delighted with their grace and quiet 

 beauty. Their calm behavior contrasted strongly with the wild antics of the 

 oldsquaws in near-by pools. 



Nesting. — A long time ago Dr. Witmer Stone (1895) published a 

 list of birds collected by the Peary expedition of 1891 and 1892 in 

 northern Greenland, in which were included an " adult female in 

 worn plumage and one young gosling entirely in down" of the 

 greater snow goose. These birds were collected by Langdon Gibson, 

 the ornithologist of the expedition, in the vicinity of McCormick 

 Bay, latitude 77° 40' north. The measurements of this bird clearly 

 indicate that it is a typical specimen of Chen hyperhorea rdvalis and 

 this constitutes the only definite breeding record we have for this 

 subspecies. Recently Mr. Gibson (1922) has published his notes 

 on this collection, from which I quote as follows : 



It was my good fortune to record, for the first time, the breeding of this 

 species in north Greenland. A family was found in Five Glacier Valley on 



