128 GEOIOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
1726. White-cheeked Goose. 
Branta canadensis occidentalis (BAIRD) Ripcw. 1885. 
During my residence on the coast of Bering sea this bird was 
not seen and as hundreds of the two other related species were ex- 
amined both at St. Michael and the Yukon mouth, it appears evident 
that it is found in Alaska as astraggler or not atall. Dall records 
specimens taken at Sitka. (Nelson.) Much rarer than the Canada 
goose in the lower Fraser valley. (Brooks.) Pacific coast region, 
from Sitka south, in winter, to California. (A. O. U. List.) 
172c. Cackling Goose. 
Branta canadensis minima. RipGw. 1885. 
Nelson and Turner report this as being the most generally dis- 
tributed goose in Alaska. Brooks and Fannin speak of it as a 
winter resident on the coast of British Columbia. 
BREEDING Notes.—tThe. upper Yukon district, the Yukon delta, 
and south to the Bristol bav district abound with these birds in 
the breeding season. They remain in these places until about the 
first of October, while in the Aleutian islands they remain until the 
middle of November. This bird does not winter in any part of 
Alaska. The eggs vary from seven to thirteen; they are laid in a 
carelessly arranged nest composed of dead grasses and a few feathers 
The young remain with the parents until the latter moult by the 
20th of August, by which time the young are able to fly. The chief 
food of the birds is the berries of the Vaccinium. (Turner.) 
The last week of May finds many of these birds depositing their 
eggs. Upon the grassy borders of ponds, in the midst of a bunch 
of grass, or on a small knoll these birds find a spot where they make 
a slight depression and perhaps line it with a scanty layer of grasses, 
after which the eggs are laid, numbering from five to eight. The 
eggs, like the birds, average smaller than those of other geese. As 
the eggs are deposited the female gradually lines the nest with 
feathers plucked from her breast until they rest in a bed of down. 
When first laid the eggs are white but by the time incubation begins 
all are soiled and dingy. The female usitally crouches low on her 
nest until an intruder comes within one hundred yards or so, when 
she skulks off through the grass or flies silently away, close to the 
