70 Birds of Colorado 



water, sleeping on the surface in considerable numbers ; 

 at daybreak they move off their feeding-grounds, and 

 this is the time when the sportsman, lying hidden 

 on the edge of the lake, gets his chance. They feed 

 in the stubble-field in the autumn and among the young 

 wheat iQ spring, when they do a good deal of damage. 

 They nest naturally on the ground near water ; if it is 

 dry, merely lining a depression in the ground with down, 

 but other^vise putting together a bulky structure of 

 grass or weeds. Where robbed or persecuted they often 

 make use of trees, sometimes adopting the nests of 

 Herons or Hawks for the purpose. The eggs, 6 to 7 in 

 number, are dull white with often a faint greenish tinge, 

 and measure 3*75 x 2*45. 



Hutchins's Goose. Branta canadensis hutchinsi. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 172a — Colorado Records— Aiken 73, p. 210 ; 

 Morrison 89, p. 166 ; Cooke 97, p. 59. 



Description. — In every other respect resembling the Canada Goose, 

 but smaller and with normally sixteen instead of eighteen tail-feathers. 

 Length about 25-0; wing 16-0; tail 5-5; culmen 1*4; tarsus 2-7. 



Distribution. — Breeding far north, along the coast of the Arctic 

 Ocean from Melville Peninsula to Alaska ; south in winter to the 

 southern United States west of the Mississippi and especially to 

 CaUfomia. 



In Colorado Hutchins's Goose is either of rare occurrence or has 

 not been distinguished from the Canada Goose. There is an example 

 in the State Historical Society's collection at Denver, shot near Love- 

 land, April 10th, 1898, by J. F. Campion ; and Aiken many years ago 

 killed one in December, near Fountain, El Paso co. Hersey informs 

 me it is not so plentiful as formerly, but that a bunch of seven birds 

 wintered at Barr in 1908-09, in company of a flock of the Canada. 

 It is a rare migrant, occasionally spending the winter. 



Cackling Goose. Branta canadensis minima. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 172c — Colorado Record — Cooke 97, p. 196 ; 

 99, p. 187. 



Description.— Closely resembling B. canadensis but rather darker 

 especially below, the cheek patches usually separated on the throat 



