94 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
« 
of the body-color from the jet-black of the head and neck, was very conspicuous, and an ineh in 
width in some specimens seen at Ounalaska the autumn of 1881. The small flock of these Geese 
seen at Ounalaska, with their dark, handsomely contrasted colors and gentle ways, made very 
interesting and fine-looking pets. They were noted upon the Seal Islands by Elliot, who tells us 
that they occurred there as irregular or straggling visitants, which remained but a short time 
before resuming their line of migration. There is no record of this species from the Siberian shore, 
where, however, it undoubtedly occurs. It reaches the extreme northern coast of Alaska, where 
it breeds. 
BERNICLA CANADENSIS OCCIDENTALIS (Baird) Dall & Bann., 
(118.) Toe LARGER WHITE-CHEEKED GOOSE. 
The present bird, although intergrading with the latter species, differs in ordinary examples 
sufliciently to be readily distinguished, mainly by its lighter colors and larger size. Its distribution 
is somewhatedifferent as well. 1 do not know of its occurrence on the Aleutian chain ; and, in fact, 
its abundance appears to be greatest at the Yukon mouth and thence up this river, and perhaps to 
the southward. North of the Yukon mouth it is much less common than the smaller form, and at 
Saint Michael’s ten of the smaller birds were secured to every one of the larger form. At the 
Yukon mouth the proportion of the two forms is about equal. All of the birds seen sufficiently 
near to ascertain their identity while we were in Kotzebue Sound were of the smaller form, and I 
doubt if the larger bird (the subject of the present notes) occurs in any considerable numbers north 
of the Bering Sea coast, except in the interior, where it is found along the course of the Yukon. 
The true Canada Goose, so well known in Eastern North America, is unknown anywhere on 
the lower Yukon and the coast of Alaska, either on the Bering Sea or Arctic shores. 
BERNICLA NIGRICANS (Lawr.) Cass. 
(119.) THE BLACK BRANT. - 
Un the shores of Bering Sea, including the various islands and Alaskan coast, the Black Brant 
occurs in large numbers during the spring migrations. -During this season it. is in such numbers 
that it affords better sport than all of the other geese combined, and is the bird which recurs most 
frequently on the fur-trader’s table at that season. In autumn it occurs much more rarely, only 
straggling parties being found along the shore as autumn closes. In Dall’s notes on the ornithology 
of the Aleutian Islands he speaks of securing the eggs of this bird on the Semicki Islands, near 
Attou, and at Kyska and Aichitka. This note, however, is to be referred to the White-cheeked 
Goose which breeds on these islands, but the Black Brant is unknown’ there during the breeding 
season. Its farthest south breeding point which I have been able to ascertain is the Yukon mouth, 
where I saw a single bird in June, 1879; thence north it is extremely rare until the vicinity of 
Bering Strait is passed, after which occasional pairs occur with more or less frequency~during the 
breeding season, until the low northern coast from beyond Cape Lisburne to Point Barrow is 
reached, and thence eastward the bird breeds in great abundance wherever the flat marshy country 
affords it suitable grounds. While at Point Barrow in August, 1881, a considerable number of 
these birds were brought off by the natives, and an examination showed that they were moulting 
their quill feathers, thus proving conclusively that they were sammer residents in the vicinity. 
Captain Smith, an experienced whaler and trader in these waters, has assured me of having 
seen these birds going and coming to the northward of Point Barrow, thus proving the existence 
of land farther north in that direction. They are also known to breed in the greatest abundance 
along the northern shores of British America, selecting the lower courses of the large rivers which 
flow into the Arctic in that region. The natives informed me that occasional pairs were found 
breeding in the vicinity of Saint Michael’s, but that they were extremely rare. On the first of 
June, 1879, a single pair were seen by me a few miles south of that place, and by their anxiety 
showed plainly that their nest was in the vicinity. This, with the single individual seen at the 
Yukon mouth, is the only instance which came directly to my knowledge of its occurrence during 
the breeding season south of the Straits. Although it undoubtedly occurs on the Siberian shore, 
