112 GEESE 



or on ledges on its face, and with a drop of 10 to 20 or 30 feet below; 

 others were on projecting spurs of rocks reached by a narrow 'knife-edge' 

 from the main face of the cliff; one was in a small cave over-hung from 

 above and with a sheer drop below; and a bird was observed sitting on 

 the flat top of a mushroom-shaped pinnacle of rock, at the very top of a 

 high cliff. In practically every case where the female was incubating 

 eggs, the male was standing close beside her." These birds were again 

 found nesting on a range of hills some 1,500 to 1,700 feet high, and nests 

 were found below which "was a range of cliffs, steep screes and bluffs, 

 reaching for quite 1,200 feet by aneroid to the innumerable streams at 

 the foot of the valley." Of these cliff-nesters, in northeastern Greenland, 

 Manniche (1910) writes: "It was only on the steep and absolutely naked 

 middle part of the mountain wall that the geese had their quarters and 

 in no place lower than some 200 meters from the base of the cliff." 



The Barnacle Goose lays from 3 to 6, usually 4 to 5, pure white eggs, 

 the average size of which is 3.01 by 1.98 inches. Referring to the young, 

 Jourdain in his notes says: "They must then scramble or fall down the 

 cliffs, probably being to some extent helped by the strong updraft of 

 wind sweeping up the side of the valley, and then make their way down 

 the screes till they reach the flat ground at the foot of the valley, when 

 they take to the water and are carried down to the marshes at the head 

 of the bay. . . . There, however, seems to be no evidence that the parents 

 give them any assistance, though it would seem improbable for a newly 

 hatched bird to descend a perpendicular cliff nearly 100 feet in height." 



Barnacle Geese are very common on the west coast of Scotland, 

 whence they depart for their breeding grounds about the end of April 

 or the beginning of May. In appearance they are much like the Brants, 

 though not nearly as maritime in their habits and their feeding. While 

 they do feed to some extent on the mud flats and foreshores left uncov- 

 ered by the tide, their favourite feeding localities, according to Wither- 

 by's Handbook (1921), "are wide stretches of 'machar' land of firm 

 springy turf inside sandhills. A common trait in all eeese, but more 

 noticeably so in this species, is a continual series of friendly quarrels 

 amongst a feeding flock. Less inclined to associate with other geese than 

 any other species, and never nearly so unapproachable, it is the 'fool' 

 amongst geese, and only one which on occasion will fail to take alarm af- 

 ter having seen and distrusted a moving object within 100 yards... 

 Almost if not quite insensitive to scent of man, and rarely if ever takes 

 alarm from it." 



There are several records of the Barnacle Goose having been taken 

 in the autumn in various places in eastern North America. Any speci- 

 men which may be shot should be reported to the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, Washington, D. C., or to the National Museum of Canada, 

 Ottawa, Canada. 



