THE CACKLING GOOSE. 83^ 



No. 33(}- 



CACKLING GOOSE. 



A. O. U. Xo. 172 c. Branta canadensis minima Ridgw. 



Synonyms. — Gray Braxt. Lhast Canada Goose. 



Description. — In coloration exactly like B. c. occidcntalis. but much smaller; 

 tail normally 14-16 feathcrc<l. Length 23.00-23.00 1 5S4.2-635 ) : wing 13.O0-14.50 

 (345.4-368.3): bill .05-i.Lt (24.1-29.2); tarsus 2.40-2.75 (61-69.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Size of Mallard; gra}- coloration; smallest of the 

 Canada Geese. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Scst: on the ground, of weeds 

 and grasses, lined with down. Eycjs: 4-9. buffy or greenish-ljuff. Av. size, 2.90 x 

 1.95 (73.7x49.5). Season: June-July. 



General Range. — Western North America chiefly coastwise; breeding in 

 western Alaska ( Yukon Delta, etc. ) ; south in winter to California and irregularly 

 eastward to Colorado and even the ^lississiijpi. 



Range in Washington. — Not common winter resident and migrant on Luget 

 Sound. 



Authorities. — Rhoads, Auk, X. Jan. 1903, p. 17. 



Specimens. — Prov. 



OF the Cackling- Goose as a resident of Washington we know surprisingly 

 little. It appears to migrate regularly l(.i Calif<irnia and should occur regularly 

 not only tipon the Sound but in the interior of the State. D(jubtless it is often 

 overlooked, or luniped in with Hutcliinses as "Gray Brant."' I have seen it bnt 

 once, Febrnary 4. 1905, a gnnip sitting on a floating log in Elliot Bay. 



As typical of nesting conditions in that romantic Northland toward which 

 our thoughts are ever tending. I quote at length from Nelson" : 



"This is the most common and generally distributed goose found breeding 

 along the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea. From the sea-shore its breeding 

 ground extends along the courses of the great rivers far into the interior. 

 Durine the summer of 1881 thev were found in abundance about the head (.)f 



o 



Kotzebue Sound, and were seen at various points along the Arctic coast to the 

 vicinity of Point Barrow; so there is no doubt that its breeding ground 

 reaches thus far. 



"In the vicinity of Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth these are the 

 first geese to arrive in spring; the tir.st come from the 25th to the 30th of April, 

 but the main body do not arrive until from ^Nlay 5 to 20, according to the 

 season. The first goose of the season is hailed with delight by both natives 

 and white residents, who set to work repairing their guns and make ready for 



a. E. W. Xelson. Rep. on Xat. Hist. Colls. Made in Alaska (1887). p. 86. 



