120 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Bernicla canadensis a. canadensis B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 455, 457. 



? Bernicla barnstoni Koss, Canad. Nat. vii, Apr. 1862, 152. 



Hab. Temperate North America in general, breeding chiefly within the United States, 

 Canada, Newfoundland, etc. 



Sp. Chab. Adult: Head and neck deep black, the former with a white patch covering 

 the throat and extending up over the cheeks to behind the eyes, growing gradually nar- 

 rower above, the upper outline usually more or less truncated; this white patch, however, 

 sometimes interrupted on the throat by a narrow black stripe or isthmus. Very rarely, a 

 broad white band, more or less distinctly indicated, crosses the forehead between the eyes. 

 Black of neck frequently bordered below by a white collar, more or less distinct. Upper 

 surface grayish brown, each feather bordered terminally by a paler shade; lower parts with 

 the exposed surface of about the same shade as the tips of the feathers of the upper parts, 

 the concealed portion of the feathers of the shade of the prevailing color above— this much 

 exposed along the sides and on the flanks. Primaries and their coverts plain dusky, the 

 former growing nearly black terminally. Anal region, crissum, and lower tail-coverts im- 

 maculate white. Tail plain deep black; rump plain blackish slate. Bill and feet deep black. 

 Young: Similar to the adult, but the colors duller, the markings less sharply defined; 

 black of the neck passing gradually below into the grayish of the chest; white cheek- 

 patches usually finely speckled with dusky; light-colored tips to the contour-feathers 

 broader. Downy young: Above, including an occipital patch, golden olive-green; beneath 

 pale greenish ochre, the head rather deeper. 



Total length/about 35. 00-43. 00 inches; wing, 15. 60-21. 00; culmen. 1.55-2.70; tarsus, 2.45-3.70. 



According to Professor Cooke,* the Canada Goose "winters in 

 the southern half of the United States, and breeds on both sides 

 of our northern boundary. It breeds regularly at Heron Lake, 

 Minn., and has been known to breed in southern Illinois (Nel- 

 son)." This statement of course applies to the present time, 

 its former breeding range being undoubtedly far more exten- 

 sive, and including a large portion of the United States to the 

 southward, where the settlement of the country has driven it 

 to more secluded haunts. Even yet a few pairs seem to linger 

 in the more retired spots of its former range. Mr. Nelson's rec- 

 ord for Union Co., Illinois (vicinity of Anna), is one case in 

 point, while the more recent record of its breeding at Reelfoot 

 Lake, Tennessee (L. O. Pindar, in The Auk, for October, 1886, 

 p. 481) is another. 



The general habits of this species are so well known that it 

 is scarcely necessary to speak of them here at any length. It 

 maybe mentioned, however, that in certain portions of the "North- 

 west, " especially in parts of Montana and Dakota, the Canada 

 Goose is said to sometimes nest in trees, possession being taken of 

 a deserted nest of a Fish Hawk or some other large bird of prey. 



* Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, p. 75. 



