LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMBRICAX WILD FOWL 261 



our way alons the top wo could look down on the steep slopes below and 

 could see two or three pairs of barnacle geese, some 300 or 400 feet from 

 the top, the geese quietly incubating while the ganders stood close at hand. 

 The usual nesting place was a sort of saddle on a stony ridge where a space 

 of a few feet of mossy ground was comparatively flat. We had brought 

 with us ropes and with their help were enabled to reach a point about 150 

 feet above the sitting bird. By careful stalking, with camera and rope in 

 hand, the leading climber descended the ridge till only 20 paces from the 

 sitting bird. The gander had already taken wing, but, as the goose still sat 

 steadily, he tried another stealthy approach and was within 15 paces before 

 the goose, which had previously shown signs of restlessness, rose from tliR 

 nest and joined her mate. Within the down-clad nest hollow was a clutch of 

 5 eggs, and below was a range of cliffs, steep screes and bluffs, reaching for 

 quite 1,200 feet by aneriod to the innumerable streams at the foot of the 

 valley. Tlie other three nests we examined in 1022 were all in very similar 

 positions. 



Eggs. — According to Mr. Jourdain (19:^2), who has published an 

 interestino- paper on tlie nesting habits of this species and sent me 

 some extensive notes on the subject, the barnacle goose laj^s from 

 3 to 6 eggs, usuall}' 4 or 5. He describes the eggs and the down as 

 follows : 



When fresh laid they are pure white, and bear a great resemblance to eggs 

 of the pink-footed goose, but are somewhat smaller. They are, however, 

 larger than those of the brant on the average, besides being considerably 

 heavier. The amount of down in the various nests varied consideralily ; prob- 

 ably in some cases a certain amount remained in the nest hollow from the 

 previous year. We found no black feathers in the nest ; all were either white 

 or had only a faint grayish tinge. 



The measurements of 49 eggs, furnished by Mr. Jourdain, aver- 

 age 76.35 by 50.32 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 82.7 by 46.4, 78.4 by 53.6, 68.7 by 49.5, and 82.7 by 46.4 

 millimeters. 



Young. — Referring in his notes to the young he says : 



Piecing together the information we obtained, it is clear that the goslings 

 remain in the nest only long enough for their down to become thoroughly 

 dry. They must then scramble or fall down the cliffs, probably being to 

 some extent helped by the strong updraft of wind sweeping up the side of 

 the valley, and then make their way down the screes till they reach the flat 

 ground at the foot of the valley, when they take to the water and are car- 

 ried down to the marshes at the liead of the bay. As there is no vegetation 

 except a few lichens and mosses near the nest, it is obvious that the young 

 can not feed till they reach the foot of the valley, and from what we saw 

 of the pink-footed goose in somewhat similar circumstances the g(*slings are 

 quite capable of surviving a perpendicular drop of considerable he'ght with- 

 out injury. There seems however, to be no evidence that the parents give 

 them any assistance, though it would seem improbable for a newly hatched 

 bird to descend a perpendicular cliff nearly 100 feet in height. 



Food. — Mr. Cordeaux (1898) says: 



The food of the barnacle goose is both vegetable and animal : it is rcMuarkably 

 fond of the short sweet grasses which cover the holms and islets off the western 



