8 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



ful nests iii 1!)4() was somewhat h igher with an average of 5.48 eggs per 

 nest. 



The average incubation period for Canada QgfiSfl nesting in their 

 nat ural habitat is 28 olajm* This corresponds closely with reports from 

 E. D. Piatt at the State Game Farm at Chino, California, who has bred 

 honkers in captivity for many years. 



The distances of the nests from each other usually depended upon 

 the strength and fighting ability of the ganders. Several especially 

 pugnacious ganders were successful in keeping other nesting geese 

 more than 150 yards from their incubating mates, while other pairs 

 of geese were found to be nesting within 10 to 12 feet of one another 

 without the slightest indication of fighting. 



Nesting Sites 



The one characteristic that nearly every nest studied had in com- 

 mon was elevation above the surrounding terrain. Elevated sites offer 

 a clear view of the surroundings and afford protection from floods, 



Fig. 5. Pair of nesting geese on haystack. Photograph by Janus Mollitt. 



grazing live stock, and farm machinery. By increasing the field of 

 vision these also afford the incubating geese some protection against 

 predation. This supposition is borne out by the fact thai during the 

 course of the study only one adult goose was found killed on the nest 

 by a predator. 



Ninety per cent of the nests were either surrounded by water or 



jvere within thirty feet of n lake, ditch, or flooded meadow. Nests in 



.such locations were usually elevated well above the water level. Musk - 



rat houses, mats of tules in dense clumps, or mounds of tule stems 



built up by the gee.se aided in elevating the nests. 



