BLUE GOOSE 



169.1. Chen ccerulescens. 28 in. 



Head and neck white, often tinged with rusty on the 

 face; underparts brownish-gray. Young birds are simi- 

 lar but the head is brownish; bill and feet reddish; 

 eye brown. This handsome goose is found only in the 

 interior, but a few accidental birds have been taken on 

 the Atlantic and two on the Pacific coasts. While it 

 is not an abundant species, flocks of twenty or thirty are 

 often seen in the Mississippi Valley. They are some- 

 times seen with Snow Geese, but for the most part keep 

 by themselves. On their march to their breeding grounds 

 they branch off from the routes chosen by the Snow Geese, 

 and turn to the eastward, breeding east of Hudson Bay, 

 while the white geese are found chiefly to the westward. 



Nest. A glass-lined depression on the ground; eggs 

 deep buff color (2.50x1.75) ; June. 



Range. Breeds in the Hudson Bay region and in 

 Labrador; winters on the west coast of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, migrating through the Mississippi Valley. 



