124 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



ground is still largely covered with snow. The last year's heath- 

 berries afford them sustenance, in common with most of the other 

 wild fowl, at this season. The mating season is quickly ended, 

 however, and on May 27th, 1879, I found their eggs at the Yukon 

 mouth. From this date on, until the middle of June, fresh eggs 

 may be found, but very soon after the latter date downy young 

 begin to appear. These geese choose for a nesting place the grassy 

 border of a small lakelet, a knoll grown over with moss and grass, 

 or even a flat sparingly covered with grass. Along the Yukon, Dall 

 found them breeding gregariously, depositing their eggs in a hollow 

 scooped out of the sand. At the Yukon mouth and St. Michael 

 they were found breeding in scattered pairs over the flat country. 

 Every one of the nests examined by me, in these places, had a slight 

 lining of grass or moss, gathered by the parent, and upon this the 

 first egg was laid; as the complement is approached, the female 

 always plucks down and feathers from her breast until, when incu- 

 bation commences, the eggs rest in a soft warm bed. The eggs vary 

 considerably in size and shape. Some are decidedly elongated, 

 others are decidedly oval. In colour they are dull- white, but ordin- 

 arily present a dirty brown appearance from being stained in the 

 nest. (Nelson.) 



This species arrives at Point Barrow, Alaska, about the middle of 

 May, and for a couple of weeks is generally found in small parties 

 along the lagoons and the small pools which have opened along the 

 crown of the beach. As the snow cleared off — early in June — they 

 scattered in pairs over the tundra, occasionally feeding together 

 in small parties of half a dozen or more. The eggs are always laid 

 in the black muddy tundra, often on top of a small knoll. The nest 

 is lined with tundra moss and down. The number of eggs appears 

 to be subject to considerable variation, as we found sets of four, 

 six and seven, all well advanced in incubation. The last eg^:; is laid 

 generally in the middle of the nest, and may be recognized by its 

 white shell unless incubation is far advanced, the egg being soiled 

 by the birds coming on and off the nest. (Murdoch.) 



A considerable number of the nests of this "Gray Wavey" were 

 discovered in the vicinity of fresh-water lakes in timber tracts as 

 well as along the lower Anderson river to the sea. Some were taken 

 on the Arctic coast, and several, also, on islands and islets in Franklin 

 bay. In all, about one hundred nests were secured. The nest, 



