406 A JOURNEY TO THE 



North Greenland to breed ; and their route in the Fall of the 

 year, as they return Southward, is equally unknown. They 

 are, I believe, seldom seen on the coast of Hudson's Bay to 

 the Southward of latitude 59° North. 



Barren Geese. [444] Barren Geese.^ These are the largest of all the 

 species of Geese that frequent Hudson's Bay, as they frequently 

 weigh sixteen or seventeen pounds. They differ from the 

 Common Grey Goose in nothing but in size, and in the head 

 and breast being tinged with a rusty brown. They never 

 make their appearance in the Spring till the greatest part 

 of the other species of Geese are flown Northward to breed, 

 and many of them remain near Churchill River the whole 

 Summer. This large species are generally found to be males, 

 and from the exceeding smallness of their testicles, they are, I 

 suppose, incapable of propagating their species. I believe I 

 can with truth say, that I was the first European who made 

 that remark, though they had always been distinguished by 

 the name of the Barren Geese ; for no other reason than that 

 of their not being known to breed. Their flesh is by no 

 means unpleasant, though always hard and tough ; and their 

 plumage is so thick before they begin to moult, that one bird 

 usually produces a pound of fine feathers and down, of a 

 surprising elasticity. 



Brent Geese. Brent Geese.' This species certainly breed in the 



remotest parts of the North, and seldom make their appear- 

 ance at Churchill River till late in August or September. 

 The rout they take in Spring is unknown, and their breeding- 

 places have never been discovered by any Indian in Hudson's 

 Bay. When they make their appearance at [445] Churchill 

 River, they always come from the North, fly near the margin 



[} Probably referring, as Hearne suggests, to abnormally large and perhaps 

 barren individuals of the Canada Goose {Branta canadensis)^ 



[' Bratita berjticla glaucogastra (Brehm). Still occurring in some numbers 

 along the west coast of Hudson Bay, in migrations, and breeding about its 

 northern shores.] 



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