250 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. [julv 



23. Charitonetta albeola Buffle-head. — Captain Thome records this 

 duck as rare. I have not noticed it. Mr. H. B. Wiley (of Miles City), 

 who has had considerable experience of duck shooting on the Yellowstone 

 informs me (in lit.) that he has never seen it. 



24. Somateria dresseri. American Eider. — Mr. Charles Freer of 

 Glendive assured me that an Eider Duck was shot there in 189? and identi- 

 fied by a Norwegian. 



25. Erismatura rubida. Ruddy Duck. — Captain Thorne mentions a 

 flock of about forty observed April 21, 1889. I have not seen it but Mr. 

 H. B. Wiley has shot a few of this species on the Yellowstone. 



26. <Jhen hyperborea. Lesser Snow Goose. — Rare. Transient. 

 April 7, 1890, on Big Dry River, Dawson County, several seen. In spring 

 of 1892 on Powder River, three seen. One of these was wounded by Mr. 

 E. Coggshall with a rifle and lingered on the river but was not secured. 

 November 12, 1903, eight seen flying south. September 12, 1904, eight 

 flew within gunshot of the ferryman's house at Terry. 



27. Chen rossii. Ross's Snow Goose. — Captain Thorne killed a goose 

 of this species on April 25, 1892. 



28. Branta canadensis. Canada Goose. — Common on migration. 

 Very few geese breed here now, compared to the numbers that did so 

 formerly, in the tops of broken tree-trunks, in hollows of partly decayed 

 trees on ledges of precipitous cliffs, and the islands of rivers. In 1892, 

 about one hundred goslings were hatched on the Lower Powder River 

 alone. Here, in 1890, I was shown two goose nests in the high branches 

 of cottonwoods, and, during June, 1893, a goose sat in a like situation at 

 Jack Selby's lambing camp on Powder River. 



Although in my experience and that of Mr. Dan Bowman, geese generally 

 repaired the deserted nests of Swainson's Hawk, I know of two authentic 

 instances when they were observed to build the entire nest for themselves 

 amidst the branches. 



When nesting in trees the goose carries her young on her back, like the 

 Eider Duck from the rocks in the Orkney Isles. 1 In the late nineties a 

 goose nested every year in a hollow cottonwood by the Yellowstone on 

 what is now my land. The nest was about six feet from the ground and 

 composed almost entirely of down and feathers from the goose's own body. 



Mrs. A. Smith of Fallon hatched eight eggs from this nest under a hen 

 and kept the goslings for two years. She informed me that if two clutches 

 of eggs were removed the goose would, nevertheless, lay a third set. For 

 four years (1903-06) a pair of geese reared a brood near this place and 

 the young were seen by me and other observers. Although the nest was 

 undoubtedly on the ledge of a vertical cut bank above the Yellowstone 

 it was not discovered until June 1, 1906. At this time the goose, after 

 laying eight eggs, had deserted it, on account of a landslide which had 



1 See 'A Fauna of the Orkney Islands' by Harvie-Brown and Buckley, who pub- 

 lished my notes on this subject. 



