B 
‘ 
Fig. 3.— Primary feathers of an adult Canada goose, A, 
and an immature, B, in winter. Feather tips of the adult are 
rounded; those of the immature are pointed. 
the migration period, the last half of April and the 
first half of May. Most yearlings retained some im- 
mature type tail feathers until the onset of the molt. 
The above findings apply particularly to Branta 
canadensis interior of the Mississippi Flyway. That 
they do not apply equally well to all races of Canada 
geese became apparent in late January, 1962, when 
100 individuals of the subspecies B. c. maxima, the 
giant Canada goose, were examined by the writer at 
their major wintering area, the city park of Rochester, 
Minnesota, and the nearby surrounding countryside. 
Plumage characters of the immature B. c. maxima at 
Rochester revealed these geese to be in a much more 
advanced stage of development at a comparable date 
than the immatures of B. c. interior in southern Illi- 
nois. The tail molt was especially well advanced in 
the Minnesota birds; at least 5 of the 40 immatures 
examined had a complete set of adult-type tail feath- 
Fig. 4.— Dorsal view of lower back and tail of a lesser 
Canada goose, Branta canadensis parvipes, shot at Perry River, 
Northwest Territories, on July 3, 1949. The faded, pointed 
primaries of the immature plumage contrast with the black, 
adult-type tail feathers. 
late-hatched 
Fig. 5.—A 
still retained, in late February, the breast feathers of the juve- 
nile plumage. The prominence of the shaft in each feather 
gives the breast a streaked appearance. 
immature Canada goose that 
