BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 173 



GREATER SNOW GOOSE {Chen hyperboreus nivalis) . 



Length. — 30 to 38 inches. 



Adult and Young. — Similar in color to the Snow Goose, but larger. 



Season. — Formerly probably an abundant migrant in spring and fall; now 

 only an accidental straggler, mainly in fall or winter. 



Range. — Eastern North America. Arctic America in summer; full breed- 

 ing range not known; but breeds in North Greenland, Ellesmere Land 

 and on Whale Sound; winters from southern Illinois, Chesapeake Bay 

 and Massachusetts (rarely) south to Louisiana, Florida, and in West 

 Indies to Porto Rico; in migration rarely west to Colorado and east to 

 New England. 



History. 



The earlier writers record White Geese in great numbers 

 on the Atlantic coast from New England to the Carolinas, 

 and from what we know of the present distribution of the 

 Greater Snow Goose it is fair to assume that they were 

 mainly of this species, as it is normally of the region east of the 

 Mississippi, and not a far western migrant, like the preceding 

 species. Morton (1632), who made a practice of hunting 

 Geese at Wollaston, Mass., states that the White Geese were 

 bigger than the Brant, and as Wood says that they were 

 almost as big as tame Geese, the Greater Snow Goose prob- 

 ably made up the majority of those once so numerous in New 

 England. Audubon says that he met with the Snow Goose 

 in fall and winter in every part of the United States that he 

 visited. What a change has occurred since his day ! This 

 Goose still appears in large flocks near Cape Hatteras and 

 along Albemarle Sound (Elliot, 1898); but it is now merely 

 accidental in New England, and there is no definite record of 

 its capture in Massachusetts. It is less rare in New York 

 than here; but Eaton gives only seventeen records of its 

 occurrence there (1875-1910). It is not difficult to account 

 for its decrease. When it is well fed no wild Goose can excel 

 it in richness of flavor as a table fowl. 



The Lesser Snow Goose, being usually strong or rank in 

 flavor and more western in distribution, has not decreased so 

 much. The conspicuousness of the larger species, its eastern 

 range and its superior flavor account for its scarcity here. 



