196 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



latitude. Again, some may linger with no intention of breeding, as 

 do the other geese. Sir John Richardson says of geese (vol. i, p. 

 251:) " There are a considerable number who do not breed, but 

 keep in small bands and are called barren geese. Of these we saw 

 several flocks." The voice of the Brant is by no means so sono- 

 rous as that of the larger geese, and when flocks are flying over at 

 night one can readily detect this species by its vocal peculiarity. 

 Another means of distinguishing it in the air is that it does not 

 often adopt the V shape in flight, and that the flocks, in their mi- 

 grations, are much smaller in numbers than the other varieties or 

 species. 



The methods of capturing the Brant are precisely similar to 

 those employed with its more important relative the Canada Goose, 

 and the reader is referred to the account of that species for infor- 

 mation on this point. 



Branta canadensis. — Gray. Canada Goose. Common Wild Goose. Grey Goose. 



In color greyish brown, below paler, whitish grey fading o«t 

 posteriorly ; head and neck black, with a broad white patch on the 

 throat extending behind the eye. Tail black with white coverts. 

 Length three feet, tail feathers eighteen. North America at large. 

 Variety Iciicopareia. Like the preceding, but black of neck bound- 

 ed below by a white collar ; under parts darker than in B. cana- 

 densis, and well defined against the white of the lower neck and 

 under tail coverts. Chiefly Northwest coast. Var. Huichinsii, tail 

 with but sixteen feathers. Colored exactly like the Canada Goose, 

 but smaller ; only two and one-half feet long. Chiefly West and 

 North ; Pacific Coast in winter. The Canada Goose is by far the 

 most abundant and universally distributed of our North American 

 Geese, and in one or other of its varieties is found in all the States 

 and Territories of our country except perhaps Florida and the Gulf 

 States. In Texas, however, it is abundant during the winter 

 months. Although by far the greater portion of the wild geese 

 which pass the winter with us, go north to breed, still in suitable 

 localities, young are reared all over the United States from North 

 Carolina to Canada. They nest in the wilder parts of Maine, and 

 are especially numerous in Newfoundland near the secluded pools 

 and streams so abundant throughout that island. 



