822 TflK LESSER SXOW r,Of")SE. 



inlanil. The I'himI which ihcy >c1ltI in ihest- Idealities gis'es their Ik'sh a sire >ng 

 sedg\' i1a\or. whieh caitses tliem tn he hut httie esteeiiieiL These birds 

 often co\-er so densely with their masses the ])lains in the vicinity of the 

 marshes as to oi\e the groun<l ilie appearance nf heing clothed witli snow. 

 Easily ai)pr()ached on hoiseljack. the nati\es sometimes near tlieni in this 

 manner, then suddenly ])utting spin's to their animals gallop into the flock, 

 striking to tlie right and left with short clul)s and trampling them heneath 

 their horses' feet. I have known a native to jirocure se\'enteen birds in a 

 single charge of this kind thru a flock covering several acres." 



It is ditihcult to frame any general statement either as to the ilistribntion 

 or abundance of the White Brant in Washington. Breeding, as they do, with- 

 in the Arctic Circle, they yet forsake the high Xorth in immense nuinliers to 



Taken in Sun I'runcisco. Photo by Walter K. Fisher. 



LIvSSF.R SXOW r.IvKSI'.. 



winter in southern California and the southwestern interior. They are, there- 

 fore, not uncommon migrants, especially in the fall, and they wititer on Puget 

 Sound in a ^•erv desultory fashion. During the se\ere winter of igof)-" con- 

 siderable numbers were reported from the upper Sound, but they were gone 

 again bv the middle of Eebrnar\'. They also winter to some extent in the 

 wheat conntrv adjacent to the Columbia Rixer. and are not uncumnion there- 

 abouts during migrations, in Xo\-ember and again in March and A|)ril. 



Snow Geese dispense shrill falsetto cries as they fly about in companies 

 of their own kind, or else mingle sociably with other species. Dr. Newberry 

 says* he has often seen a triangle of Geese llying steadily, high o\-erhead, 

 "composed of indi\-idnals of three species \Chcu Jiypcvhorca. Braiita cana- 

 densis hiitchiiisii. and AiistT alhifrnns (/ainlh'li]. each plainl_\- distinguishable by 

 its i)luinage, but eacli holding its place in the geometrical figure as tho it was 

 composed of entirely homogeneous material, perhajis an equal number of the 

 darker species, with three, four, or more jiure, snow white geese flying together 

 somewhere in the con\-erging lines." 



a. Rep. Pac. R. R. Snrv.. Vol. X.. pt. IV.. 1855. p. loi. 



