Goose-shooting 227 



Other names for this bird are blue snow goose, 

 bluewavey, bald-headed goose, white-headed goose, 

 blue brant, blue-winged goose. In its full spring 

 plumage, the blue goose is seldom taken in the 

 limits of the United States, and it is perhaps the 

 rarest of our geese. 



Ross's SNOW GOOSE 



(^Chen rossit) 



Adult male and female — Plumage, entirely snowy white ; the pri- 

 maries are black, fading into gray; bill and feet, dull red; the 

 base of the bill is covered with wartlike corrugations, though 

 this is not always the case; loral feathering forming a nearly 

 straight line on upper mandible. This outline is convex in the 

 other members of the genus. 



K?««^— White, with a grayish cast; bill and feet, dusky. 



Measurements— \.Qng\.\\, 23 inches; wing, 14.50 inches; tarsus, 

 2.75 inches; culmen, 1.60 inches. 



Habitat — ^vttds, in Arctic America, exact place unknown. Win- 

 ters in California south to Orange County, and in Mexico. 

 Occurs in migrations from Hudson Bay and North Dakota, 

 west to Fort Anderson, Great Slave Lake, British Columbia, 

 and Oregon. 



This little goose is the smallest of all the geese, 

 weighing less than three pounds, — smaller, if any- 

 thing, than a mallard duck. It is one of the rarer 

 varieties, being found occasionally in flocks of the 

 lesser snow goose, sometimes by itself. In Mon- 

 tana and Dakota this bird occurs sparingly. It 

 has been seen in large flocks in the San Joaquin 

 Valley. The bird has a cackling cry, but in its 

 flight and habits resembles the larger members of 



