DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [ 113 ] 



return trip. Townsend listed it in 1839; Newberry (1857) considered it 

 not rare in early November on the Columbia River; Bendire (1877) re- 

 ported collecting a single specimen at Malheur Lake, March 2.4, 1877; 

 Mearns (1879) listed it from Fort Klamath on the authority of Dr. 

 McElderry, the post surgeon; Johnson (1880) stated that it was a common 

 migrant in the Willamette Valley; Anthony (1886) considered it common 

 on the Columbia River; Woodcock (1901) reported it from only two 

 localities, one a single bird in the winter of 1894-95 that stayed for several 

 days on a small lake near McMinnville (Pope) and one a rare migrant in 

 October and May at Dayton (Hadley). Allan Brooks (192.6!)) stated that 

 at least 18 birds crossed from British Columbia, at Okanogan, to winter 

 in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho, which indicated that there might still 

 be a possibility of finding Trumpeter Swans in our State. On September 



7, 192.9, Oberholser, Gabrielson, and Jewett saw a single swan at Davis 

 Lake that, judging from its huge size, might have been this species. This 

 is the only recent record of even its hypothetical occurrence within the 

 State. So far as we can learn, the only Oregon specimen of this noble 

 bird in existence is one in the Chicago Academy of Science collection that 

 was taken three miles west of Portland in the Columbia River on April 



8, 1881. 



Common Canada Goose: 



Branta canadensis canadensis (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION.- "Head and neck black excepc for broad white band across throat and 

 cheeks; body deep gray, feathers tipped with lighter; rump, tail, and quills black; 

 upper and lower tail coverts, and ventral region, white. Length: 35-43, wing 

 15.60-11.00, bill 1.55-1.70." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young when 

 recently hatched is brightly colored and very pretty. The entire back, rump, wings, 

 and flanks are 'yellowish olive,' with a bright, greenish-yellow sheen; a large central 

 crown patch is lustrous 'olive'; the remainder of the head and neck is bright yellow- 

 ish, deepening to 'olive ocher' on the cheeks and sides of the neck and paling to 

 'primrose yellow* on the throat; the under parts shade from 'deep colonial buff' on 

 the breast to 'primrose yellow' on the belly; the bill is entirely black." (Bent) 

 Nest: Built-up mound of grass, rushes, leaves, or other vegetation, lined with down. 

 Eggs: 4 to 10, usually 5 or 6, creamy white to dull white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Mackenzie, northern Quebec, and Labrador 

 south to Gulf of St. Lawrence, James Bay, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, 

 and northern California. Winters south to Gulf of Mexico and to southern Cali- 

 fornia. In Oregon: Common permanent resident, breeding in suitable areas in eastern 

 Oregon and wintering throughout State wherever open water is found. 



THERE ARE few persons who have not thrilled to the strident voices of the 

 Common Canada Geese (Plate 2.1, 5), or "Honkers," as the great gray- 

 breasted squadrons travel the air lanes in their annual migrations. Spring 

 is in the air, and even the staid business man, who never gives the out- 

 of-door world a thought at any other time, pauses to look with an 



