LESSER SNOW GOOSE 



129 



find the tundras covered witlr 

 snow they swim about in the 

 salt water at the floe or rest 

 on the ice at the floe-edge. . . . 

 They do not dive, so they may 

 have to live upon such bits of 

 seaweed as they find attached 

 to the ice, or upon crusta- 

 ceans which swim about near 

 the surface of the water. The 

 earliest arrivals are eager to 

 come inland to the gravel 

 ridges where they can nibble 

 at lichens, dig up roots, and 

 swallow the coarse gravel. . . . 

 Many of the Khanguk [Es- 

 kimo name for the Snow 

 Goose] are mated when they 

 reach Southampton; others 

 arrive in flocks and mating 

 apparently goes on after the 

 nesting grounds have been 

 reached." At Cape Kendall, 

 Sutton found occasional in- 

 stances of pairing between the Blue and Lesser Snow Geese. His views 

 on the hybridization of the two species are summarized in the "Life 

 Story" of the Blue Goose. 



The nest of the Lesser Snow Goose, says the same writer, "is sit- 

 uated on dry ground at the edge of a lake, sometimes at some distance 

 from the water's edge, and often three or four miles inland from salt 

 water. ... by the time the set of eggs is complete there is a thick lining 

 of down capable of covering all the eggs while the parent is away from 

 the nest." From 4 to 8 eggs are laid, but the set is usually six. The 

 eggs are a dull white or creamy white colour and the average size is 3.10 

 by 2.07 inches. "Only the female incubates. The male stands on guard, 

 usually not far from the nest. The two birds are devoted to each other 

 and stay together all the time during the period of incubation, while the 

 young are attaining full size, and at the start of the southward migra- 

 tion." These geese probably mate for life. Manning (1942) found the in- 

 cubation period to be 22 days, and observes that "the Snow Goose was a 

 very close sitter, hard to flush, returning to its nest immediately." 



Natural enemies of the adult birds on Southampton Island are few. 

 "The Eskimos do not often kill them for food unless the geese happen to 

 be very abundant. The eggs, however, are gathered eagerly by the na- 

 tives, and nests are often destroyed by gulls, jaegers, foxes and ravens, 

 especially if, for some reason or other, the eggs are left uncovered while 

 the parent birds are away. . . . Young birds doubtless have many enemies, 

 however, chief among them being, perhaps, the Arctic fox." 



