236 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



seize one another by the bill, and then turn and twist each other about, their 

 wings hanging loosely by their sides meanwhile. Suddenly they wowhl close 

 up and each would belabor his rival with the bend of the wing, until the sound 

 could be heard two or three hundred yards. The wing-strokes were always 

 warded off by the other bird's wing, so but little damage was done, but it 

 usually ended in the weaker bird breaking loose and running away. Just 

 before the males seize each other they usually utter a series of peculiar low 

 growling or grunting notes. 



From the seashore its breeding ground extends along the courses of the 

 great rivers far into the interior. . . . While descending the Yukon, Dall 

 found their eggs laid upon the bare sand-banks, as were those of the White- 

 fronted species. 



The last of May finds many of these birds already depositing their eggs. 

 Upon the grassy borders of ponds, in the midst of a bunch of grass, or on a 

 small knoll, these birds find a spot where they make a slight depression and 

 perhaps line it with a scanty layer of grasses, after which the eggs are laid, 

 numbering from five to eight. These eggs, like the birds, average smaller 

 than those of the other geese. ... As the eggs are deposited the female 

 gradually lines the nest with feathers plucked from her breast until they rest 

 in a bed of down. When first laid the eggs are white, but by the time incuba- 

 tion begins all are soiled and dingy. The female usually crouches low on her 

 nest until an intruder comes within a hundred yards or so, when she skulks off 

 through the grass or flies silently away, close to the ground, and only raises a 

 note of alarm when well away from the nest. When the eggs are about hatch- 

 ing, or the young are out, both parents frequently become perfectly reckless 

 in the face of danger. The young are hatched from the middle of June until 

 the middle of July (Nelson, 1887, pp. 86-87). 



In habits the Cackling Goose so nearly resembles the Hutchins 

 Goose, that no one has been able to point out differences. As with the 

 latter species, the Cackling Goose feeds largely on grass and grain 

 during its stay in California. Along with other geese this species 

 used to do much damage to young wheat in Colusa, Butte, Sutter and 

 Yuba counties. But the ranks of the birds are so thinned at the 

 present time, that the injury they inflict now is negligible. 



On the market this species is usually classified along with the 

 Hutchins Goose as "Brant." Very large numbers of Cackling Geese 

 are to be found at times in the markets of our larger cities. 



The Cackling Goose, once just as numerous, if not more so, than the 

 Hutchins Goose, is like the Hutchins, rapidly decreasing in numbers 

 from year to year. Old residents in some parts of the Sacramento 

 Valley say that now there is "not more than one of these Geese present 

 where formerly there were hundreds." To the work of the market 

 hunter can be attributed much of this decrease, for this goose is one 

 which is easily procured, and which finds a ready sale on the market. 

 Whik^ still rated as common in restricted portions of the state, this 

 goose is in a fair way to disappear completely unless enough of the 

 birds are left each winter to guarantee the return of an adequate stock 

 in the spring to the breeding grounds in tlie north. 



