GEESE 



(Subfamily Anserince) 



American White-fronted Goose 



(Anser albifrons gambeli) 



Called also: LAUGHING GOOSE; SPECKLE-BELLY; GRAY 

 BRANT; PRAIRIE BRANT. 



Length 27 to 30 inches. 



Male and Female Upper part and fore neck brownish gray, the 

 edgings of the feathers lighter; a white band along forehead 

 and base of bill bordered behind by blackish ; lower back, 

 nearest the tail, almost white; wings and tail dusky; sides 

 like the back; breast paler than throat, and marked, like the 

 white under parts, with black blotches ; bill pink or pale red ; 

 feet yellow; eyes brown. Immature birds, which are darker 

 and browner than adults, lack white on forehead and tail 

 coverts, also the black patches on the under parts. 



Range North America; rare on Atlantic coast; common on the 

 Pacific slope and in the interior; nesting in the far north, 

 and wintering in the United States southward to Mexico and 

 Cuba. 



Season Spring and autumn migrant or winter resident on the 

 plains and westward to the Pacific. 



A long, clanging cackle, wah, wah, wah, wah, rapidly 

 repeated, rings out of the late autumn sky, and looking up, we 

 see a long, orderly line of laughing geese that have been feeding 

 since daybreak in the stubble of harvested grain fields, heading a 

 direct course for the open water of some lake. With heads 

 thrust far forward, these flying projectiles go through space with 

 enviable ease of motion. Because they are large and fly high, 

 they appear to move slowly ; whereas the truth is that all geese, 

 when once fairly launched, fly rapidly, which becomes evident 

 enough when they whiz by us at close range. It is only when 

 rising against the wind and making a start that their flight is 



'34 



