256 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



theory that bodies of land lie beyond the impenetrable icy barrier which 

 heads off their advance in that direction. Perhaps it was the droppings of this 

 bird which we found on the dreary shores of Wrangel Island, when our party 

 from the Corwin were the first human beings to break in upon its icy solitude. 

 Mr. Dall writes that on his return to the coast of California in the latter part 

 of October enormous flocks of these birds were seen about 100 miles offshore. 

 They were flying south and frequently settled in the water near the ship. 



Along much of the route followed by the brant in the spring in 

 such enormous numbers, they are comparatively scarce in the fall, 

 indicating that a different route is followed. In the spring, when 

 open water shows first near the land, they would naturally follow 

 the coast line; but in the fall, when Bering Sea is all open, they 

 evidently prefer to migrate far from land, stopping to rest and per- 

 haps to feed on the open sea. 



Game. — Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) say of the game quali- 

 ties of this bird : 



The black brant evades the devices of the hunter better than any other 

 duck or goose. In very early days on San Diego Bay it was never seen to 

 alight on the shore or near it. By 1875 it was almost impossible to obtain 

 a shot at the bird from a boat, and even with a box sunk in the mud and 

 concealed by seaweed a good bag was secured with difficulty. In 188.3 a float- 

 ing battery with plenty of decoys alone would enable a hunter to obtain 

 this much-prized bird. A few years later many of the birds failed to put in 

 an appearance at all of£ San Diego, probably going farther south, along the 

 Mexican coast. Because of its habit of occasionally cutting across low sand 

 spits to avoid a long detour in its flight, most of the hunting has been done 

 from blinds situated beneath such a line of flight. On Tomales Bay hunters 

 have sailed down on flocks with " blind boats," when the birds were at rest 

 during a fog, their whereabouts being disclosed by their " gabbling " noises. 



The black sea brant has not been sold on the markets to any extent for a good 

 many years. About 20 years ago consignments were shipped to San Francisco 

 from Humboldt Bay, and the birds sold for as little as 25 cents each. Even 

 the high price that the bird would bring at the present time does not attract 

 it to the market because of the difficulty now attached to obtaining it. 



Winter. — The black brant winters abundantly on the Pacific coast 

 from the Puget Sound region southward, living entirely on salt 

 water, in the larger bays and channels. Mr. Dawson (1909) writes: 



Black brants are the only geese one is quite 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 shallow bays, they 

 are widely distributed over the open water also, and their numbers during 

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

 to be mentioned in comparison. They sit the water in small companies ; and 

 although they are exceedingly wary in regard to rowboats, they often permit 

 an approach on the part of steamers which is very gratifying to the student. 

 An exaggerated use of their long wings as the birds get under way gives the 

 beholder the impression of great weight — an impression which is not sus- 

 tained in the hand, where the bird is seen to disappointingly light ; all feathers, 

 in fact, as compared with a chunky scoter, which does not equal it in extent 

 of wing by a foot or more. 



