WESTERN CANADA GOOSE 93 



scrambled from under our feet and disappeared with a splash into a 

 nearby pond. I walked up to within 25 feet of the mother as she came 

 with her head down in the usual manner of an irate goose. She followed 

 us for some distance when we left." The eggs of this goose are practically 

 indistinguishable from those of the Common Canada Goose, averaging 

 3.41 by 2.28 inches, as determined from one set of five eggs in the United 

 States National Museum. The downy young and those of the Cackling 

 Goose resemble each other very closely but are quite different from those 

 of the other varieties of this species. 



Of the nesting and feeding habits of this goose, G. Willett, Curator 

 of Ornithology, Los Angeles County Museum, in a letter to the author 

 says: "I have heard of several instances of this goose nesting on top of 

 stumps in the woods. I had a photograph of one such nest, but it was 

 too poor to publish. It was about 30 feet up on top of an old snag. The 

 young of this bird are hatched near the beach, then are taken up the 

 mountains where they feed largely on berries (moss-berries, huckle- 

 berries). When the young return to salt water, they are nearly full- 

 grown and can fly well. At this time their intestines are colored purple 

 from their berry diet." 



Of the winter habits Swarth (1923) says: "Since so many of the 

 water birds of the coast of southern Alaska and British Columbia are resi- 

 ident the year through in that general region, it is very probable that 

 the white-cheeked goose [Western Canada Goose] belongs in the same 

 category. In a letter recently received from Mr. Allen E. Hasselborg, a 

 resident of Juneau, Alaska, and familiar with the native birds and mam- 

 mals, he confirms this view, saying that the geese are about as abundant 

 in the Sitkan district in winter as in summer. During the winter they 

 frequent the more sheltered south and west-facing bays and inlets, 

 avoiding localities exposed to the cold land winds, while in summer they 

 are of more general distribution. That this subspecies does not perform 

 as extensive migrations as other members of the group is evident from 

 its nonoccurrence in California. If it occurs in this State at all it should 

 be found along the extreme northern coast." 



Apart from being non-migratory, the habits and behaviour of the 

 Western Canada Goose seem to be identical with those of the Common 

 Canada Goose. 



Lesser Canada Goose 



Branta canadensis leucopareia 

 (bran-ta, kan-a-den-sis, lu-ko-pa-re-a) 



Colour Plate No. 2. Downy Young No. 32. 

 (A Subspecies of the Canada Goose) 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Branta, a corruption of Greek brenthos, being the Aristotelian name of an 

 unknown bird, canadensis, Latinized form, meaning of Canada, leucopareia, from 

 Greek, leukos, meaning white, and pareia, meaning cheek. 



