216 



GAME BIFDS OF CALIFORNIA 



The Boss or China Goose is the smallest, and one of the least known 

 of our North American geese. Its winter range, so far as known, is 

 restricted to central and western California, in which area it often 

 associates with its larger relative the Lesser Snow Goose. The species 

 arrives in mid-fall, as shown by the following dates for Stockton : 

 October 6, 1880; October 6, 1881; October 26, 1896 (Belding, MS). 

 At Grayson, Stanislaus County, one was taken October 29, 1908 (Mus. 

 Vert. Zool.). In the winter of 1911-12 specimens were secured at Los 

 Baiios, Merced County, from November 30 to March 16, and the 

 species was present there until April 2. During November and 

 December, 1913, this goose was often seen by us in the markets of 

 San Francisco. Belding (MS) states that in the winter of 1880-81 

 Koss Geese were found in equal numbers with Lesser Snow Geese in 

 the Stockton markets, and in 1896 exceeded the numbers of the latter 



21905 



Fig. 31. Side of bill of Eoss Snow Goose. Natural size. 



Note rouuded corrugations on side of upper mandible 

 at its base (compare with fig. 30). 



species. Most of the birds secured at Los Banos in 1911-12 were 

 birds of the year, while in 1908 hunters reported that the birds then 

 killed were mostly adults. 



The much smaller size of the Ross Goose readily separates it from 

 the Lesser Snow Goose. When drawn, the Ross Goose seldom weighs 

 more than two and one-half pounds. The comparatively short bill, 

 only an inch and a half in length, with a warty appearance at the 

 base in the adult, is a good character for identification when the bird 

 is in the hand (see fig. 31). Young birds are distinguishable from 

 adults by lack of the warty protuberances and by the presence of gray 

 feathers on the head, neck and foreback. In flight the small size and 

 the peculiar note, which is much like that of the Cackling Goose, are 

 characters wliich help in identification. Belding (MS) says that the 

 rusty color so generally found on the Snow Goose is nearly always 

 lacking on the Ross Goose, but the specimens in the Museum of Verte- 



