LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 197 



than the European bird. But tlie characters were not sufficiently 

 well marked and not constant enoucrh to fully satisfy all the Euro- 

 pean writers, many of whom questioned the validity of the race. 

 Recently, liowever, Messrs. Swarth and Bryant (1917) have estab- 

 lished the fact " that two well-defined subspecies of Anser alhifrons 

 occur in California during the winter months, instead of the single 

 race heretofore recognized." Tule goose is the common name they 

 have proposed for the newly discovered larger race, and they seem to 

 have shown that Hartlaub's name, gamheUi, refers to the larger 

 rather than to the smaller and commoner race. In addition to a 

 marked difference in size between the two races, comparable to that 

 existing between the Canada and the Hutchins geese, "the larger 

 birds are of a browner tint, and the smaller ones more gray. This is 

 especially noticeable in the heads and necks. In some individuals of 

 the larger race the head is extremely dark brown, almost black." 

 Also the larger bird is said to have the " naked skin at edge of eye- 

 lid, yellow or orange," whereas in the smaller bird it is " grayish 

 brown." 



At present the tule goose is known only from its limited winter 

 range in California. Its center of abundance seems to be in Butte 

 and Sutter Basins in the Sacramento Valley, but there are persistent 

 rumors among hunters that it occurs also in the Los Baiios region in 

 the San Joaquin Valley and at Maine Prairie in Solano County. I 

 have examined and measured perhaps half a dozen large specimens 

 of white-fronted geese in eastern collections, taken at widely scat- 

 tered localities in the Mississippi Valley, Hudson Bay, and even on 

 the Atlantic coast, that measured well up within the range of meas- 

 urements of the tule goose, but they have nc^t been compared with 

 typical large birds from California, nor have they been examined by 

 anyone who is familiar with the characteristics of the tule goose; 

 they may be stragglers of the larger race or they may be only extra 

 large individuals of the smaller race. 



Nesting. — In my attempt to establish a breeding range for the 

 larger race I find nothing but negative evidence. There are very 

 few specimens of breeding birds in American collections, and all 

 of those that I have seen are referable to tlie smaller race. I have 

 collected the measurements of 109 eggs, taken in various localities 

 in northeastern Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland, 

 and they show no correlation of size with locality; the largest two 

 sets came from Greenland and Siberia and the smallest two from 

 Point Barrow and Greenland; average measurements from one local- 

 ity are not materially different fi"om those from another locality. 

 Moreover, the average measurements of the 109 eggs are very clos3 

 to the average measurements of 81 eggs of European birds; and the 



