Annotated List of Sac County, Iowa 1.")1 



hunters reported the blue geese as present in the " Goosepond " 

 in the spring of 1916. I did not see them as I was away from home, 

 except for two brief visits. 



White-fronted Goose (Anser aldifrons gamieli) . Both Mr. Lee 

 and Mr. Smith reported this goose common in early days. Both 

 stated that they were good eating as they got very fat. Mr. Lee 

 stated that they were common in fall as well as in spring, coming 

 about September 1st and staying until it froze up. They are tol- 

 erably common yet. I saw a small flock in the " Goosepond " 

 March 28, 1915. Mrs. George May reported them in the same place 

 April 14, 1911. Snow geese, blue geese, and white-fronted geese are 

 all called brant by local hunters. 



Canada Goose {Branta canadensis canadensis). Reported as 

 common by both Mr. Smith and Mr. Lee, but not as common as its 

 smaller subspecies. Mr. Lee said that the Canada goose was the 

 only goose that ever nested in Sac county. He stated that in 1856 

 or 1857 a party of seven men captured a double wagon-box full of 

 young Canada geese from one-half to two-thirds grown in a trip 

 of about fifty miles, from Sac City up Cedar creek to Fonda, then 

 west to Pond or Sunk grove, then to the Raccoon river and down 

 it to Sac City. He also reported the last Canada goose nest at Cor- 

 rection pond in the year 1878, with perhaps some nesting at Rush 

 lake in 1886 or '87. He further said that Canada geese are the 

 least common of the three subspecies now, but that thousands of 

 Canada geese stayed at Storm lake in Buena Vista county for a 

 month in the spring of 1914. My father reported that Caanda 

 geese nested in the " Goosepond " till 1878. Mrs. George May re- 

 ported them in the " Goosepond " April 14, 1911, and I identified 

 one April 18, 1913. 



Hutchin's Goose {Branta canadensis hutchinsi). Reported by 

 Mr. Lee as tolerably common both in early days and at the pres- 

 ent time. 



Cackling Goose (Branta canculensis minima). Mr. Lee reported 

 that the cackling goose was more common than the Hutchin's in 

 early days, and as more common than either Hutchin's or Canada 

 at the present day. 



Brant {Branta 'bernicla glausogastra) . Mrs. George May report- 

 ed five seen in the " Goosepond " in the spring of 1911. 



Whistling Swan {Olor columhianus). Specimen in the Smith 

 collection. Mr. Smith reported them as tolerably common. My 

 father stated that Mr. Oscar Draper shot two swans, weighing re- 

 spectively, twenty-three and one-half and twenty-four pounds, out 

 of a flock of eight or ten, in the " Goosepond " in 1875. Mr. Lee 

 reported swans flying over in 1888 and 1889. A swan was seen on 

 Wall lake by hunters in 1904. Local hunters reported that a flock 



