° 1918 J Kennard, Ferruginous Stains on Waterfowl. 127 



the Chen group, the Greater Snow Goose and Ross's Goose, and 

 also the Emperor Goose, all of which are apt to become discolored 

 about their heads, undoubtedly acquire the stain in the same way, 

 viz, — by digging. 



The last question, — why the rusty stains occur with certain 

 species of waterfowl, but not with others having essentially the same 

 habits and haunts, — is perhaps more difficult to answer definitely, 

 owing to our lack of knowledge of the habits and haunts of some of 

 them. The breeding ground of the Blue Goose is unknown, but 

 was supposed by Professor Wells W. Cooke to be somewhere in the 

 interior of Ungava in the northern part of the Labrador Peninsula, 1 

 and the bird has been reported from Baffin Land. 2 I find, on look- 

 ing over a series of more than a hundred Blue Geese, that adults 

 taken early in their autumn migration, are usually unstained or 

 very slightly so, while the juvenal and immature birds are free 

 from discoloration. On the other hand, all the Blue Geese, taken 

 during the winter, along the Louisiana marshes, are more or less 

 stained. Those taken nearest the Mississippi Delta seem to be 

 most discolored; and those taken in Cameron Parish less so; while 

 birds collected in Galveston Bay, Texas, are apt to be compara- 

 tively free from stain. Of the young birds that arrive in Cameron 

 Parish early in October, those which were hatched late and are 

 still in juvenal plumage are unstained. As soon, however, as they 

 begin to moult and to show white feathers about their heads and 

 necks, these feathers begin to acquire the rusty stain, while similar 

 birds taken in Galveston Bay remain comparatively unstained. 



Wherever the breeding range of the Blue Goose may be, it appears 

 that those birds which have acquired the stain while wintering in 

 the South, lose it during their summer moult, and as a rule start 

 south unstained. Those birds that fly south along the Mississippi 

 River may acquire the stain anew, while feeding among the border- 

 ing bayous and sloughs, while those that fly farther west, and come 

 down into Texas, may remain unstained. 



Of the Lesser Snow Geese examined, about fifty per cent were 



1 Distribution and Migration of North American Geese, Ducks and Swans, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture, Biological Survey, Bulletin 26. 



2 Bernard Hantzschs Ornithologische Ausbeute in Baffinland by Dr. Erich Hesse, in 

 'Journal fur Ornithologie,' April, 1915. 



