242 The Water-fowl Family 



These birds breed in detached pairs in Okano 

 gan County, Washington, sometimes gathering 

 in the fields to feed. A nest found there by Mr. 

 William L. Dawson was situated on a shelf of 

 rock directly over the gorge of the Columbia 

 River. Four goslings, bright grass-green in 

 color, mottled with olive, nestled there on a bed 

 of down, the female flying from the nest as Mr. 

 Dawson approached. 



CACKLING GOOSE 

 {Bernicla canadensis minima) 



This species bears the same relation to the white-cheeked goose as 

 Hutchins' goose does to the Canada. 



Adult The white cheek patches are separated by a black bar 

 about .75 an inch wide. It has a white collar at the base of the 

 black neck, between it and the upper gray of the breast. Tail 

 feathers 14 in number. In the young bird the white collar is 

 less marked. 



Measurements Length, 24 inches; wing, 13.50 to 14 inches; cul- 

 men, i.io inches ; tarsus, 2.50 inches. 



Eggs Five to eight in number, white, measure 2.80 by 1.95 

 inches. 



Habitat Breeds on the Alaskan shores of Bering Sea, chiefly on 

 or near the lower Yukon. Winters from British Columbia 

 south to Ventura County, California. Reported in the migra- 

 tions from the Pribilof and Aleutian islands, and Hawaii, and 

 in the United States as far east as Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 Colorado. 



The cackling goose differs from the white- 

 cheeked goose in its smaller size and in the 

 number of its tail feathers, which, in the former 

 variety, are eighteen to twenty in number. It 



