THE WATERFOWL 



933 



however, they seem to prefer to feed in the shallow water 

 of the bays and lagoons, tipping for aquatic plants and 

 animals. 



Geese are said to mate for life and, certainly in cap- 

 tivity, it is difficult to get old birds that have lost their 

 mates to make another choice. The male goose is a 

 dutiful husband and assists his spouse in hatching the 



The female does not change her 

 color during the molt. Here she has 

 lost her flight feathers. 



eggs and caring for the 

 young. Both sexes are able 

 to deliver severe blows with 

 their wings which are armed 

 with bony knobs at the first 

 joint and they are, therefore, 

 far from helpless even when 

 they have shed all of their 

 wing feathers and are unable 

 to fly. 



The Canada goose differs 

 from the other species in 

 having broad triangular 

 patches of white on the 

 cheeks which meet on the 



throat. The Hutchins, white-cheeked, and cackling 

 geese are western representatives of the Canada goose. 

 The two species of brant are similar to the Canada geese 

 in having the head and neck black and the body grayish 

 brown but the white is confined to a few white streaks 

 forming a collar on the neck. They are considerably 

 smaller and are confined largely to the sea coast, the 

 black brant to the Pacific coast and the common brant 

 to the Atlantic. The snow geese are easily recognized 

 because they are pure white except for their black flight 

 feathers and a grayish patch in the wing. The eastern 

 greater snow goose is larger than the western lesser snow 

 e. A still smaller and rarer species, the Ross snow 



goose, is likewise found in parts of the West. In Alaska 

 there is another species, the Emperor goose, which rarely 

 comes south into the United States. It has a white head 

 and tail and a bluish gray body more or less specked with 

 white. The chin and throat are dark, a constant differ- 

 ence from the rare blue goose which otherwise is a similar 

 looking bird of eastern North America. The breeding 

 range of the blue goose in northern Canada is unknown, 

 but it winters in Louisiana. The white-fronted goose is 

 very similar to the European Gray-lag goose, and there- 

 fore to our domestic geese which have been derived 

 from it, with the exception that the region around the 

 base of the bill is white in the native species. 



THE MERGANSERS 



The mergansers, sheldrakes, saw-bills, or fish ducks 

 as they are variously known, form a very distinct group 

 of waterfowl, easily distinguished by their narrow ser- 

 rate bills and their crested heads. 

 Three of the nine species are 

 found in North America but be- 

 cause of their fishy diet, they are 

 nowhere valued as food. Indi- 

 viduals of the two smaller spe- 

 cies, the hooded and red-breasted 

 mergansers, however, are often 

 eaten and pronounced as good as 

 many of the true ducks. The 

 females of all three species are 

 grayish birds with conspicuously 

 crested, reddish-brown heads, the 



The long neck of the dabbling 

 ducks is greatly accentuated in 

 the pintail. 



MALE PINTAIL IN "ECLIPSE" PLUMAGE 



This plumage is worn only while the flight feathers are being replaced 

 instead of all winter as with most birds. 



crest of the small hooded merganser being the largest. 

 The males are conspicuously marked black and white 

 birds, the male hooded being one of the most ornate of 

 the waterfowl. Mergansers secure their food by diving 

 and pursuing their prey beneath the water using only 



