128 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



172/). White-cheeked Goose. 



Branta canadensis occidentalis (Baird) Ridgw. 1885. 



During my residence on the coast of Bering sea this bird was 

 not seen and as hundreds of the two other related species were ex- 

 amined both at St. Michael and the Yukon mouth, it appears evident 

 that it is found in Alaska as a straggler or not at all. Dall records 

 specimens taken at Sitka. {Nelson.) Much rarer than the Canada 

 goose in the lower Fraser valley. {Brooks.) Pacific coast region, 

 from Sitka south, in winter, to CaUfornia. {A. 0. U. List.) 



172c. Cackling Goose. 



Branta canadensis minima. RiDGW. 1885. 



Nelson and Turner report this as being the most generally dis- 

 tributed goose in Alaska. Brooks and Fannin speak of it as a 

 winter resident on the coast of British Columbia. 



Breeding Notes. — The upper Yukon district, the Yukon delta, 

 and south to the Bristol bay district abound with these birds in 

 the breeding season. They remain in these places until about the 

 first of October, while in the Aleutian islands they remain until the 

 middle of November. This bird does not winter in any part of 

 Alaska. The eggs vary from seven to thirteen; they are laid in a 

 carelessly arranged nest composed of dead grasses and a few feathers 

 The young remain with the parents until the latter moult by the 

 20th of August, by which time the young are able to fly. The chief 

 food of the birds is the berries of the Vaccinium. {Ttirner.) 



The last week of May finds many of these birds depositing their 

 eggs. Upon the grassy borders of ponds, in the midst of a bunch 

 of grass, or on a small knoll these birds find a spot where they make 

 a slight depression and perhaps line it with a scanty layer of grasses, 

 after which the eggs are laid, numbering from five to eight. The 

 eggs, like the birds, average smaller than those of other geese. As 

 the eggs are deposited the female gradually lines the nest with 

 feathers plucked from her breast until they rest in a bed of down. 

 When first laid the eggs are white but by the time incubation begins 

 all are soiled and dingy. The female usually crouches low on her 

 nest until an intruder comes within one hundred yards or so, when 

 she skulks off through the grass or flies silently away, close to the 



