Ross's GOOSE 



147 



"Jn a little while the rapids became faster, longer, and more fre- 

 quent, until at last we came to one that proved to be about a mile long. 

 After labouring up this we came to a mile or so of good water, and it 

 was while we were on this calm stretch that the first Ross's Goose was 

 sighted in the early morning light, flying towards the lake that lay 

 ahead of us. Any doubts as to whether the geese we were looking for 

 would be there certainly vanished when he appeared. 



"On entering the lake, we could see them flying all over the place. 

 .... On the first three islands visited there were about fifty pairs nest- 

 ing, anywhere from three to thirty feet apart .... The complete nest 

 was about twelve inches over all, with a nesting cavity about five inches 

 in diameter and about two and one-half inches in depth from the top of 

 the downy rim. There were two to six creamy-white, ovate, eggs in the 

 nest examined. Four eggs were the most common clutch noted. Some 

 nests contained five eggs, some two or three, and one or two nests had 

 six." The average size of the eggs is 2.74 by 1.90 inches. Some of the 

 natives said that the Ross's Goose "was common thereabouts, the chief 

 breeding grounds being on similar islands in a larger lake about six 

 miles away." 



It is most appropriate that the discovery of the Ross's Goose breed- 

 ing grounds should have been made by officials of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company. The honour of the discovery, however, nearly fell to Charles 

 E. Gillham of the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, U. S. De- 

 partment of the Interior. 

 Gillham was first sent into the 

 north to make studies of the 

 status of migratory waterfowl 

 in 1935, and continued his re- 

 searches in each of the suc- 

 ceeding years. In 1938 he 

 chartered a plane and actual- 

 ly flew over the Perry River, 

 but ice conditions prevented 

 the hoped-for landing. In his 

 report of that year he stated: 

 "From the air the writer 

 could see countless large 

 white birds in these marshes; 

 whether they were Swans, 

 Snow Geese, or Ross Geese 

 only time will prove." In 

 1939 Gillham chartered a 

 plane from Canadian Air- 

 ways for a trip into the Perry 

 River region but the sudden 



