298 ANATID^. 



and, to a less degree, in coloration. According to the 

 authors of the recently published ' North American Birds,' 

 there are four distinguishable forms belonging to two sec- 

 tions. The first section comjirises the large form B. 

 canadensis, which inhabits the United States generally, and 

 the British possessions, breeding chiefly north of 40° ; and 

 B. occidentalis, found on the north-west coast from Sitka in 

 summer to California in winter. The second section con- 

 sists of the much smaller B. hutch'msi, which breeds in the 

 Arctic regions, migrating through the Western United States 

 and Mississippi valley ; and B. leucopareia, which breeds 

 on the coast of Alaska, and migrates southwards into the 

 Western United States. The form which has been intro- 

 duced into the British Islands appears to be the first and 

 largest of the four, which breeds in the eastern portions of 

 Arctic and temperate North America in great numbers, 

 migrating as far south as Mexico in autumn and winter ; 

 at which seasons it also visits the Bermudas. Before the 

 settlement of the country it used to breed in Kentucky, and 

 as late as 1819 Audubon found the nest, eggs, and young 

 near Henderson, on the Ohio. 



Richardson says : — " The Canada Geese, or ' bustards ' 

 of the Canadians {les outardes), breed throughout the wooded 

 districts, but do not reach the vicinity of the Arctic Sea, 

 except on the banks of some of the large rivers. The most 

 northern localities in which we observed them were the 

 channels between the alluvial islands which form the delta 

 of the Mackenzie. They generally build their nest on the 

 ground, but some pairs occasionally breed on the banks 

 of the Saskatchewan in trees, depositing their eggs in 

 the deserted nests of Ravens or Fishing Eagles." Mr. 

 Macfarlane found five eggs of this species in a deserted 

 Hawk's nest, warmly lined with down, which had apparently 

 been plucked by the female from her own body ; and Captain 

 Bendire states that during a spring when the Harney valley, 

 Oregon, was flooded, all the nests of the Canada Geese were 

 placed in trees, principally willows ; although during the 

 previous dry season they were on the ground. The nests 



