GREATER SNOW GOOSE. 



I T is somewhat difficult to define accurately the limits 

 of the present bird and the preceding, when there is 

 nothing to distinguish them from each other but a differ- 

 ence of a few inches in their total lengths; and unfortu- 

 nately wild birds object to be measured, so it is impossible 

 to verify one's observations with that degree of certainty 

 so much desired by all naturalists, and so rarely obtained. 

 But since it has been decided that there are two forms of 

 this Snow Goose in North America, the present is con- 

 sidered as that one which is found east of the Mississippi 

 Valley and chiefly along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 going occasionally as far south as Cuba. Like its 

 smaller relative its breeding places are in the far north, 

 on the Barren Grounds, and on the borders of the Arctic 

 Ocean east of the Mackenzie River. It is very common 

 in summer during its migrations about Hudson Bay, so 

 abundant that formerly a single hunter has been known 

 to kill a thousand to twelve hundred in a season. A 

 much smaller number than this has to suffice at the 

 present time. Snow Geese flock by themselves, and 

 although they may be feeding on the same marsh or 

 plain, or stretch of water with other Geese, never mingle 

 with them. They feed chiefly on grass which, if on land, 

 they bite off with the side motion of the head and jerk of 

 the neck in precisely the same way as tame Geese are 

 wont to do. These birds also eat bulbous roots and soft 

 portions of various water plants, and their peculiarly 

 shaped bills are admirably adapted for cutting or pulling 



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