132 GEESE 



Greater Snow Goose 



Chen Hyperborea atlantica 



(Chen atlantica, of Peters) 



(Chen, hi-per-bo-re-a, at-lan-ti-ka) 



Colour Plate No. 5. Downy Young No. 32. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Chen, Greek, meaning a goose; hyperborea, from Latin hyperboreus, mean- 

 ing, beyond the north wind; atlantica, Latinized form, meaning of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: White brant, often simply brant. IN LOCAL USE: Arctic goose; 

 bald brant; Canadian goose; common wavy; oie blanche (white goose); oie sauvage 

 (wild goose); red goose; wavy; white wavy; white goose. 



DESCRIPTION AND SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



ADULTS AND JUVENILE. Identical with Lesser Snow Goose, except generally 

 larger, heavier and chunkier, with thicker neck and larger head and bill. (See 

 Lesser Snow Goose.) 



FIELD MARKS 



(Winters along the coast from Maryland to North Carolina, and visits the 

 lower St. Lawrence River on migration). 



ON THK WATER AND IN FLIGHT. Same as those of the Lesser Snow 

 Goose. 



VOICE. The call is similar to that of the Blue Goose. Though noisy at limes, 

 these geese are, perhaps, the most silent of their kind. 



LIFE STORY 



The Greater Snow Goose, whose poetic scientific name, hyperborea, 

 means "from beyond the north wind/' is somewhat larger than, but 

 otherwise identical with, the Lesser Snow Goose of the west; some au- 

 thorities, however, consider it to be a distinct species. It is exclusively a 

 bird of the Atlantic coast, breeding in the more northern part of the 

 Arctic Archipelago of Canada and in northern Greenland, stopping on 

 its migrations on the lower St. Lawrence River and wintering off the 

 coasts of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. 



The entire population of Greater Snow Geese visits the lower St. 

 Lawrence River on their spring and autumn migrations and appears to 

 be on the increase. White and Lewis (1937) says: "About thirty-five 

 years ago the maximum number of Greater Snow Geese to be found at 

 St. Joachim was between 2,000 and 3,000. Since then they have increased 

 in numbers so that now there are at least 10,000 birds in the flock, which 

 probably includes all the Greater Snow Geese in existence." Dr. Lewis 

 in notes recently sent to the author says that there were about 18,000 

 Greater Snow Geese in the flock at St. Joachim in the autumn of 1940. 

 The same writers say: "The area at St. Joachim on which they spend 

 most of their time while in that region is a preserve belonging to the 

 Cap Tourmente Fish and Game Club. The Greater Snow Geese, while 



