ONTARIO. 



is favorable, the flocks usually pass over us without stopping. 

 The Canada Goose is less boreal in its range than some of the 

 others of its class. Individual pairs have been found nesting at 

 different points in the Middle States ; Professor Macoun found 

 them breeding abundantly in the Northwest, and Dr. Coues 

 mentions the singular fact of their being observed in the " Upper 

 Missouri and Yellowstone regions breeding in trees.'" 



I have known instances of their being domesticated, but they 

 always retained the wild habit of skulking off to conceal their 

 eggs in some out of the way place. 



BRANTA CANADENSIS HUTCHINSII (Sw.& Rich.). 



62. Hutchins's Goose. 173 a. 



Tail sixteen-feathered. Colors exactly as in the Canada Goose, but size 

 less. Length, about 2^ feet ; wing, 15-17 ; tail, 5-6 ; bill, i^-i^ ; tarsus 

 rather under 3. 



Hab. North America, breeding in the Arctic regions, and migrating south 

 in winter, chiefly through the Western United States and Mississippi 

 Valley. 



Apparently a small race of the preceding, which has been 

 raised to the rank of a separate sub-species, in which position it is 

 as easily considered as in any other. Where the Canada Goose 

 ends and the Hutchins's begins is at times difficult to determine. 

 Small geese are occasionally seen with the last groups of the 

 others which pass in spring ; but they are fewer in number and 

 less frequently obtained. I once saw a fine pair of these birds 

 in the hands of a local taxidermist where they had been left 

 to be ^'stuffed," and with such vigor had the operation been per- 

 formed that when finished it would have been a hard matter for 

 any one to have told to which species the birds originally 

 belonged. 



The Hutchins's Goose has not been found nesting within the 

 limits of the United States, being apparently more northern in 

 its range than the preceding. 



71 



