142 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



raoge in that country extends from Hudson's Bay to the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Arctic coast, as decided by specimens from 

 various localities. It is the earliest of the Geese in spi'ing. At 

 Fort Carlton the first seen in 1858 was on the 28th of March, 

 and at Red River Settlement on the 1st of April, while in 1856 

 it was on the 2nd, but in 1859, which was a veiy backward 

 spring, it was much later. At Fort Carlton there were numbers 

 at the lakes on the plains as late as the 3rd of November. It is 

 not restricted in its breeding-ground to the far north; for I 

 found four eggs in a nest between the north and south branches 

 of the Saskatchawan on the 4th of May. I have before noticed 

 the habit ('Ibis,' vol. iii. p. 319) of adopting the deserted nests 

 of Eagles or Ravens, also mentioned in the ' Fauna Bor.-Am.,' 

 having learned it from unquestionable authority. I have been 

 also told that the birds in their first year do not breed, but remain 

 in flocks, and can readily be distinguished by their smaller size ; 

 the last part of the sentence I am, however, inclined to doubt. 

 With respect to the length of B. canadensis, I believe 36 inches 

 to be quite up to the average for an adult. Prof. Baird gives 

 35 to 37, and Wilson 36 inches. I have measured many in 

 the wild state, and never found them to deviate much. The 

 ' Fauna Bor.-Am.' has, however, given 41 inches; and this has, 

 unluckily, been copied by Yarrell, and is therefore recognized as 

 the proper length. Mr. Murray, moreover, makes the two he 

 has compared 39^ and 40 inches respectively, which, although 

 he does not tell us so, I suspect are the measurements of skins, 

 and consequently worthless. My specimen {' Ibis,' vol. iv. p. 9), 

 which was a female, measured 34 in. in length, 19^ in. in the wing, 

 2g in. along the culmen of the bill, and the commissure 2^ in.; bill, 

 legs, feet, and claws wholly black ; the folded wings reached just 

 to the end of the tail, and the upper tail-coverts 3^ in. short of 

 it. There are some large specimens in the British Museum, from 

 North America, one of which measured 20^ in. in the wing, and 

 2f in. along the ridge of the bill ; in colouring it does not differ 

 from the typical B. canadensis. Among some skins brought home, 

 this last autumn, from Hudson's Bay, by Capt. Herd, is a pied 

 variety of this species. Its legs were probably, when fresh, a 

 red flesh ; the bill is part black and part yellow, and the dark 



