132 



THE OOLOQIST 



ant fighter and cleans up all species 

 which we have in a scrape even the 

 big Canada, and the Nile Goose from 

 Africa, known to bird fanciers as a 

 "killer" because of his ability and dis- 

 position to fight. The Blue Goose is 

 likewise quite prone to cross in mat- 

 ing almost always with the Lesser 

 Snow Goose so far as our observations 

 go. This may account for the many 

 specimens in a wild state which are 

 partially Albino usually on the under 

 parts, which in the adult" Blue Goose 

 are of a deeper blueish than tlie upper 

 parts. The plateNo. — shows a Blue 

 Goose and his Lesser Snow Goose 

 mate at heir nest on our grounds 

 June 9, 1919. The distance is 12 feet 

 from the camera. This pair of birds 

 nested in the same identical spot in 

 1917 and 1918 and all the clutches of 

 eggs 1917, 1918 and 1919 contained 

 five eggs. The 1917 was their first 

 nest. It was in the blue grass in the 

 fence corner a small native Cedar 

 tree which has since died. The nest 

 is about 30 feet from the foot of the 

 five foot terrace thrown up to make 

 the lake shown in the background and 

 is four feet below the water surface. 

 In 1919 these birds hatched and raised 

 one bird, "Tommy" we call him and of 

 whom more will sometime probably 

 be published. "Tommy" is a true 

 hybrid. His plumage is that of a snow 

 Goose but he is undersized and more 

 stumpy or squat of figure than the 

 trim Snow Goose showing the result 

 of his half sturdy strong blue blood. 



This nest was always a mere shal- 

 low place scratched in the blue grass 

 sod with a very little lining of dead 

 grass and a rim of the same about the 

 outer edge, which as incubation pro- 

 gressed in each instance was inter- 

 woven with much white down pulled 

 from the sitting bird by herself. Th3 

 Blue Gander never during incubation 

 went more than a few feet from the 



nest for a very long time. He was al- 

 ways there ready, willing and able to 

 defend his mate from all cameras. 

 Remembering there are 77 wild geese 

 of seventeen different varieties in the 

 enclosure, coming from all parts of 

 the world, you may believe he has had 

 many a battle. 



The eggs laid by this pair of birds 

 were as we would expect, typical of 

 the Lesser Snow Goose, and were al- 

 ways laid the last few days of May or 

 the first few days of June of each year. 



It remained for the year of 1919 to 

 crown our effort to breed a pair of the 

 Blue Geese in confinment. The nest, 

 eggs and home life of this bird are 

 wholly unknown to science. So it is 

 with a feeling of pride that we use 

 "The Oologist" as the medium of first 

 communicating these facts to the 

 world. We have among our birds a 

 pair of this species that have been 

 mated several — two or three years. 

 Last year they bred for the first time 

 but laid no eggs. This year 1919 a 

 pair of our Canada Geese made a nest 

 in a depression on the highest point 

 in the five acre lot where we keep all 

 these birds. It was 150 feet south of 

 the lake and about 60 feet north of 

 the main traveled highway leading in- 

 to Lacon, over which thousands of 

 autos pass annually. It was located 

 so as to be hidden in the grass of this 

 depression observers yet when the 

 gander stood on guard, as he always 

 did, he had a full view of all the terri- 

 tory eastward for a mile or more in 

 other directions for lesser distances. 

 It likewise overlooked the lake and 

 our grounds to the north, also the 

 above road to the south and was so 

 located as to be protected from the 

 rays of an electric street light by the 

 shade of a tree near the lamp, and a 

 hundred feet from the nest. 



The Canada Goose laid five eggs 

 during the last week in April. None 



