The IVafer-fowl of the Pacific Coast 543 



perfect rigidity during several minutes of descent, 

 drifting perhaps a thousand feet while falling as 

 far, yet without the slightest break in the ranks or 

 any breach of their vast dignity, is one of the great 

 puzzles of nature. Time and again in the Western 

 states I have seen all the geese alight in water, 

 but only in California have I seen all three at once, 

 not in hundreds but by thousands, all descend- 

 ing into a circle of a few hundred acres. Such 

 was a common sight in winter before the rapid set- 

 tlement of the southern plains and slopes, and 

 whether viewed from the water's edge or from 

 some hill half a mile away was a sight equally 

 wild and wonderful. 



OCCASIONAL GEESE 



Mingled with the larger geese are often some 

 small ones, but rarely in any quantity and generally 

 mere occasional specimens. But one of them, the 

 smaller Canada goose or "little honker," is some- 

 times found in bunches of some size. This is not 

 much more than half the size of the large goose, 

 though apparently of the same color and markings, 

 and is probably Hutchins' goose. Yet it varies 

 enough in size to indicate two varieties. 



That there are two varieties of the snow goose 

 and probably three here is quite certain. They 

 are much smaller than the regular snow goose, one 

 of them looking more like a duck. The latter is 



