[116] BIRDS OF OREGON 



THE LESSER CANADA GOOSE, a smaller edition of the Common Canada 

 Goose, has been reported in Oregon by various ornithologists, the first 

 of whom was Townsend (1839). Johnson (1880), Anthony (1886), and 

 Woodcock (1901) all recorded it as a common or abundant species in 

 western Oregon, and Merrill (1888) listed it likewise for Klamath County. 

 All of these records were for Hutchins's Goose but are now to be referred 

 to the above subspecies, as in the latest revision of this puzzling group 

 the name hutchinsi has been restricted to the form breeding in eastern 

 Arctic America and migrating through the Mississippi Valley. This is 

 the medium-sized goose of the canadensis group that migrates commonly 

 through eastern Oregon. It is one of the most abundant species on the 

 Columbia River near Arlington and an important part of the great goose 

 flocks in Harney, Lake, and Klamath Counties (earliest date, October 16, 

 Multnomah County; latest, April 19, Klamath County). Comparatively 

 few geese have been killed in western Oregon in recent years, and there- 

 fore its present status in that territory is somewhat doubtful, but it 

 undoubtedly still occurs in small numbers among the wintering bands of 

 geese there. Walker collected one at Blaine, Tillamook County, April 16, 

 192.3, and Jewett, one at Netarts, December 2.9, 192.9. It usually winters 

 on the Columbia River above The Dalles, feeding out over the wheatfields 

 in the morning and evening and resting on the gravel bars during the day. 

 One of the impressive waterfowl spectacles still left to us is the sight 

 of great bands of these and other geese leaving their resting grounds on 

 the river. In the early morning light, one flock leads the way, and then 

 for many minutes flock after flock takes wing, rising in great circles until 

 sufficient altitude is attained to cross over the bluffs to the stubble fields. 

 In a short time the shrill clamor of the circling flocks dies away and the 

 river is deserted. Later in the day the geese drift back, a flock at a time, 

 to sit on the gravel bars preening their feathers or to float lazily in the 

 slack water close inshore. In the late afternoon the process is repeated, 

 the feeding birds sometimes returning long after sunset. From October 

 to April it is often possible to count many thousands of these great birds 

 from the Columbia Highway anywhere from The Dalles to Umatilla 

 all the equipment necessary being a pair of good binoculars and the will 

 to stop the car at points commanding a view of the stream. 



Cackling Goose: 



Brant a canadensis minima Ridgway 



DESCRIPTION. A small dark form of the canadensis group, very similar to B. c. occi- 

 dentalis. Downy young: "Exactly like that of occidentalism (Bent) Si^e: "Length 

 2.3-2.5, wing 13.60-14.50, bill .95-1.15." (Bailey) Nest: A depression, lined with 

 grass and down. Eggs: 4 to 7, dull white to cream white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on coast of northwestern Alaska. Winters mainly 

 in Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys of California. In Oregon: Abundant migrant 

 with perhaps occasional wintering flocks. 



