THE BLACK BRANT. 835 



"As the eggs are deposited the female gradually lines the nest with feath- 

 ers plucked from her breast until they rest in a bed of down. \\'hen 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 

 a hundred yards or so, then she skulks off through the grass or flies silently 

 away, close to the ground, and only raises a note of alarm when well away 

 from the nest. When the eggs are about hatching, or the young are out, both 

 parents frequently become perfectly reckless in the face of danger." 



No. 337- 



BLACK BRANT. 



A. O. U. No. 174. Branta nigricans (Lawr. ). 



Description. — .Idnlt: Head and neck all around, and chest, glossy black, 

 shading into sooty brown on back and wings, into sooty black or deep slate on un- 

 derparts ; remiges and tail black ; an incomplete white collar on upper neck, broad- 

 est on sides, interrupted behind, and occasionally in front ; upper tail-coverts and 

 crissum white in strong contrast to surrounding parts. Bill and feet black ; iris 

 brown. Iiiniiatiirc: Like adult but white collar indistinct or wanting; greater 

 coverts and secondaries broadly tip])ed with white; sides and flanks brownish gray. 

 Length of adult: 22.00-29.00 (558.8-736.6); wing 12.75-13.50 (323.9-342.9); 

 bill 1.28 (32.5) ; tarsus 2.40 (60.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Standard of Brant size; black coloration with strongly 

 contrasting white of upper tail-coverts (and crissum) distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. .Vcjf.' a depression in ground, 

 heavily lined with down. Eggs: 4-8, grayish. Av. size, 2.80 x 1.75 (71.1 X44.5). 

 Season: June-July; one brood. 



General Range. — Breeding in western Arctic America and on terra incognita 

 borealis : south in winter along the Pacific Coast to Lower California ; also casually 

 east to the Mississippi and the Atlantic Coast. 



Range in Washington. — Abimdant migrant and common in winter on the 

 West-side — found only on salt water. 



Authorities. — [Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814) Ed. Biddle : Coues. 

 Vol. n. p. 191.] Bcrnicla nigricans. Cassin. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 

 1858, p. 768. C&S. L'. Rh. B. E. 



Specimens. — Prov. BN. 



AS matter of fact Black Brants are the only Geese one is cpiite sure of 

 seeing from the deck of a steamboat on an average winter day on Puget Sound. 

 While they have their favorite feeding grounds upon the mud-flats and in shal- 

 low bays, they are widely distributed over the open water also, and their num- 

 bers during the spring migrations are such that not all other wild geese put 



