128 GEESE 



JUVENILES. Immature birds of this race and immatures of the Greater Snow 

 are practically identical; both also resemble juvenile Ross's but the last is much 

 smaller, lighter in general coloration and lacks the black "grinning patch" found 

 on the bill of the Snow Geese. See "Description." 



FIELD MARKS 



(Abundant in the interior, west of the 

 Great Lakes, and on the Pacific coast; acci- 

 dental on Atlantic coast.) 



ON THE WATER. A large, snow-white 



goose which, on account of its size and pure 



white plumage, is difficult to mistake for any 



other goose in locations where it is likely to -==- 



be found. The black wing-tips are hardly notice- 

 able on the water unless the wings are flapped. The white 

 swan has a different outline of body and neck; the diminu- 

 tive Ross's Goose, its replica in miniature, is half the bulk. 

 The similar Greater Snow Goose is strictly an Atlantic coast 

 race, so that confusion is improbable. 



IN FLIGHT. The snow-white plumage, with black wing- 

 tips, will readily identify it. Snow Geese fly high and fast 

 in long diagonal lines or in V-shaped flocks, chattering 

 shrilly as they go. The similar but much smaller Ross's 

 Goose is silent in flight. 



VOICE. A shrill falsetto cry, and a shrill honk. 



LIFE STORY 



The Lesser Snow Goose is probably the most abundant of all the 

 geese of this continent. In the Canadian west it goes by the name of 

 "wavy," a corruption of the Indian word "wa-wa," meaning wild goose, 

 and in the western and southern States, it is commonly called the "white 

 brant." As its name hyperborea (from beyond the north wind) implies, 

 it is a most northerly breeder, nesting on the Arctic coasts and islands of 

 North America. It is found on its migrations west of the Great Lakes, and 

 only as a straggler does it occur on the Atlantic seaboard. A very similar 

 though somewhat larger bird, the Greater Snow Goose, is found in rela- 

 tively small numbers on the Atlantic coast. The much smaller Ross's 

 Goose, while of a different species, is a miniature of the Snow Goose, all 

 three of these birds being of snow-white plumage with black wing-tips. 



Sutton (1932) found the Lesser Snow Goose nesting on Southampton 

 Island in Hudson Bay. While this island is not the main nesting ground 

 of this species he found them as summer residents all over the western 

 half of the island, and especially abundant at Cape Kendall where they 

 were found nesting in association with the Blue Geese. The following 

 account of the annual program of this goose is condensed from Sutton's 

 report: "The Lesser Snow Goose returns from the south sometimes long 

 before the snow and ice have completely melted from their favourite feed- 

 ing and nesting grounds, usually during the first week of June. If they 



