88 



BiiiDs OF XoRTH Carolina 





Fr:. 37. \\'iilTl: FitnxTl:n OooSK (»duU). 



Genus Branta (Scop.) 



KEY Tl.) sriCC'IES 



Comprises gccsc with the liill and feet lilack. and witli at least some part of the 

 head hlaek. 



1. IIojul ontii'dy bljick. Bmnt. 



1. Hoail with soiiio white. See 2. 



2. llcail mainly l>!;ick. with a triaiijiular pitrh of white on cacli elieek. these joining under 



tiifoat. Caniidfi ti(uf<f. 

 2. Head mainly whiti', the loir.<. occi|)Ut, un-k. ami i-he--t black. Hnriincle Goose. 



70. Branta canadensis canadensis [I Ann:). Canada Goose. 



.■l(/.s. — Throat anil a larjic patch on siilc of head behind eye white or whitish: rhin and rest 

 of head ami neck black: l)ack and wiiiKs tc''ayish brown, more or less edged with linhlcr: tail 

 and sliorter upper tail-coverts l)lack. longer and lateral ones white; breast ami belly grayish, 

 fading to white on lower bellv; sides like back. Im. — Similar, but throat and cheeks sometimes 

 mixed witli blackish, "b., :i.^.(10-i:{.00; W., b^).()0-2l.0(); Tar., 2.4r)-;5.70; B., \.m-2.H)" (Kidgw.J. 

 (Clmp., liirdx of E. N. A.) 



Range. — T<'mperate North America, br<'eding from the northern States northward to tlie tree 

 limit. 



Range in North Carolina. — Mainly coastal region in winter. In the migrations likely to 

 occur anywliere in the Stal<\ 



In tiie days (jf early atitumn eomes to one's oars the deep trumpet-call of an old 

 fttmder, and looking up one may see a \'-shaped flock of wild geese passing over, 

 their backs seeming to scrape the very sky. Few sights in nature so stir the imagi- 

 nation of mankind! Somewhere far to the north, perhajis on the tundras within 

 the shado\v of the frozen pole, these hirds have passed the sunmier, and now upon 

 the approach of winter something calls them on their long journey, to be ended 

 only in the sounds of Carolina or maybe the lagoons of the Gulf Coast. 



About their summer homes many of them have been harassed by the Eskimo and 

 Indian, who |)in-sued tln'in with Ao'^-i when they were unable to fly during the molt- 



