124 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
ground is still largely covered with snow. The last year’s heath- 
berries afford them sustenance, in common with most of the other 
wild fowl, at this season. The mating season is quickly ended, 
however, and on May 27th, 1879, I found their eggs at the Yukon 
mouth. From this date on, until the middle of June, fresh eggs 
may be found, but very soon after the latter date downy young 
begin to appear. These geese choose for a nesting place the grassy 
border of a small lakelet, a knoll grown over with moss and grass, 
or even a flat sparingly covered with grass. Along the Yukon, Dall 
found them breeding gregariously, depositing their eggs in a hollow 
scooped out of the sand. At the Yukon mouth and St. Michael 
they were found breeding in scattered pairs over the flat country. 
Every one of the nests examined by me, in these places, had a slight 
lining of grass or moss, gathered by the parent, and upon this the 
first egg was laid; as the complement is approached, the female 
always plucks down and feathers from her breast until, when incu- 
bation commences, the eggs rest in a soft warm bed. The eggs vary 
considerably in size and shape. Some are decidedly elongated, 
others are decidedly ova!. Jn colour they are dull-white, but ordin- 
arily present a dirty brown appearance from being stained in the 
nest. (Nelson.) 
This species arrives at Point Barrow, Alaska, about the middle of 
May, and for a couple of weeks is generally found in small parties 
along the lagoons and the small pools which have opened along the 
crown of the beach. As the snow cleared off—early in June—they 
scattered in pairs over the tundra, occasionally feeding together 
in small parties of half a dozen or more. The eggs are always laid 
in the black muddy tundra, often on top of a small knoll. The nest 
is lined with tundra moss and down. The number of eggs appears 
to be subject to considerable variation, as we found sets of four, 
six and seven, all well advanced in incubation. The last egg is laid 
generally in the middle of the nest, and may be recognized by its 
white shell unless incubation is far advanced, the egg being soiled 
by the birds coming on and off the nest. (Wurdoch.) 
A considerable number of the nests of this “‘Gray Wavey”’ were 
discovered in the vicinity of fresh-water lakes in timber tracts as 
well as along the lower Anderson river to the sea. Some were taken 
on the Arctic coast, and several, also, on islands and islets in Franklin 
bay. In all, about one hundred nests were secured. The nest, 
