256 The Emperor Goose 



The young are hatched the last of June or early in July, and are 



led about the tundras by both parents until August, when the old birds 



moult their quill-feathers and with the still unfledged young become 



extremely helpless. At this time, myriads of other geese are in the 



same condition, and the Eskimos made a practice of 



setting up long lines of strong fish-nets on the tundras 



to form pound-traps, or enclosures with wide wings 



leading to them, into which thousands were driven and killed for food. 



The slaughter in this way was very great, for the young were killed at 



the same time. 



Fortunately, in 1909, President Roosevelt made a bird-reservation 

 covering the delta of the Yukon and the tundra to the southward, which 

 includes the main breeding-ground of the Emperor Goose,, and thus took 

 a long step toward perpetuating this fine bird. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Emperor Goose belongs to the Order Anseres, the Family Anatidae, and 

 the Genus Philacte. Its scientific name is Philacte canagica. Its habitat is both 

 shores of Bering Sea and adjacent Arctic coasts and islands, and its winter range 

 is southward on the American coast to northern California. 



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