Goose-shooting 249 



Young — Similar to the adult, but the collar is obscure. The greater 

 wing-coverts and secondaries, broadly tipped with white. The 

 feathers of the sides, uniform gray, without white tips. 



The black brant differs from the common brant in having a 

 white collar about the front of the neck, in the latter bird the 

 sides of the neck being merely streaked with white. The black 

 brant is characterized also by darker breast and belly. 



Eggs — Four to seven in number, grayish white, measure 2.80 by 

 1.80 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds at Liverpool Bay on the Arctic Coast and at Point 

 Barrow, Alaska, occurring abundantly in spring and rarely in 

 fall on Kotzebue Sound and the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. 

 Winters on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia south to 

 Magdalena Bay, Lower California, in Nevada, and probably 

 Utah. Recorded also as a straggler from Texas, Minnesota, 

 Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Reported 

 also from near Wrangell Land, Bering Island, and Hawaii, and 

 a " dark-bellied " brant breeds in the Yenisei Delta. Occurs 

 inland in migrations to Fort Yukon, Okanogan County, Wash- 

 ington, and eastern Oregon. 



The black brant is rare on the Yukon, but 

 passes the western edge of St. Michael's Island 

 in immense flocks, about the middle of May, re- 

 turning the last week in September. 



Its breeding-ground is on the shores of the 

 Arctic Ocean. Some of the nests are placed on 

 small islands in the neighboring fresh-water ponds, 

 or about the mouth of the rivers. The nest is a 

 depression in the ground lined with down, contain- 

 ing four or five, sometimes six, eggs. These birds 

 keep well to the sea, and except in the locali- 

 ties where they nest, are seldom seen on fresh 

 water. 



