Goose-shooting 



225 



being in lines. It seldom utters any note, though 

 occasionally, when attracted by other geese, or 

 wounded, a shrill honk is heard. A white line of 

 these birds along the shore or high in air is a 

 beautiful sight. On Currituck Bay small flocks 

 are not infrequently seen along the sand-bars, 

 where they are occasionally shot over live geese 

 decoys, or sometimes when a straggler comes 

 within range of the blind. In one of the clubs, 

 among the decoy geese, is a live, domesticated bird 

 of this species, almost as large as a Canada goose. 

 Grasses growing under water, various vege- 

 tables, and small crustaceans are its diet. The 

 flesh is not prized for food. The weight is from 

 six to ten pounds. 



BLUE GOOSE 

 (Chen ccerulescens) 



Adult male and female Head and upper half of the neck, white, 

 sometimes washed with rusty anteriorly; back and breast, dark 

 slate; the feathers tipped with lighter brown; wing-coverts, 

 blue-gray ; secondaries, dark brown, edged with white ; prima- 

 ries, black, fading into gray; flanks, brownish gray; under 

 parts, gray ; rump, upper and under tail-coverts, grayish ; tail, 

 deep brownish gray, bordered with white; bill and feet, red- 

 dish ; iris, brown. 



Measurements Total length, 28 inches; wings, 16 inches; tar- 

 sus, 3.10 inches; culmen, 2.20 inches. 



Young Somewhat similar, but less showy ; the head and neck, 

 gray-brown, with a white chin ; the body more cinereous than in 

 the adult ; bill and feet, dusky. 



Habitat Breeds probably on the northeastern shores of Hudson 

 Bay. Winters chiefly on the goast of Louisiana, occasionally 



