452 



LAMKI,LIH(»STI{AI. SWIMMKHS ANSKUKS. 



ill large Hucks, hut wure more oitcii im-t with singly or in HiniiU partit's. A lew 

 rniiaiufd to lnved in foiiipany with the Hrrnli/n iili/rintim. Itiit hy tar thu greater 

 uuiuher went tarther norlii, 



Dr. il. ('. Merrill nientinns tliis s|iecies as the first to arrive in the aiitunin in 

 Stmthwestern Texas, usually alMUit the first week in Oeldher. Coniparatively lew 

 reniaineil throughout the winter, hut during the niigratioiiH it was only exceeded in 

 nuuiliers hy tiie Snow (lOose. In their spring migrations he IiaH seen tioeku ut at 

 least two hundred pass over Tort Urown as late as the I8th of Ajuil. 



J)r. Cooper nientutns it as very ahundant during the wet season in California, 

 Honu> arriving a.s early as the seeond w«-ek in Septenil)er, freciiienting thu plains 

 ahnost exeliisively, rarely appearing on the sea-shore or in the water. Of all the 

 (Jeese that art! found in Califmnia, this is regarded as hy far the hest for the tahle ; 

 and near the Colundiia Kiver it was found a very easy hird to shoot. The hunter 

 eould walk in the long grass where llie hinls were, and shoot them down as they rose 

 Hingly or in [lairs. In California they are more su.spieions and wild, and it retpiires 

 eonsideral)le artifice to ohtain a shot at thent. ThiH in dune hy nu>anH of lirush 

 hiding-places, over which they Hy, or hy driving an ox that has heeii trained for the 

 purpose toward them, keeping concealed Ix'hind it until close to the liirds. In this 

 way most of these tJeese arc now shot f(U' market. 



Mr. (Jraysou nu-'t with this species on the western coast of Mexico, near .Ma/atlan. 

 where, from the month of Septendier until Fehruary. it occurs in considerable Hocks, 

 appearing to migrate up and down the southern (Sulf shores. 



It is said to feed (diicHy on herries, ami is seldom seen on the water, exee]it at 

 night or when moulting. It fre«piunts the sandy shores of rivers and lakes in Hocks, 

 one of their iiumher jHTforming the duty of sentinel. They Itreed in great nnndters 

 in Arctic .\nierica and on the islands of the I'olar Sea, hut arc nunc rarely seen on the 

 coast of Ihulson's Hay. This hird migrates over the interior, and its hreeiling-places 

 are always ch(»Hen in the vicinity of woodcil tracts. It passes north in large Hocks 

 at the sanu! time with, or a little later than, the Suow (Joose, through the iuterior of 

 the Fur Country to the hreeding-places. which are in the woody districts skirting the 

 Mackenzie to the north of the sixty-seventh parallel, ami also to the islands in the 

 Arctic seas. The Indians imitate its call liy patting the mouth with the hand while 

 they repeat the .syllaiile un/i. The resend)lance of the note of this species to the 

 laugh of a man h;us given tti the hird the common name of "Laughing (Joose." 



Mr. Ilearne, in his ''.lourney" (p. II.'S). refers to this species as the '• Laugh'iig 

 (loose." In si/e, he says, it is the e(pial of the Snow (loose, Init its skin, when 

 stripped of its feathers, is delicately white, and the Hesh excellent. It visits Church- 

 ill Iviver ill very small niimhers ; hut about two hundred miles to the northwest ol 



tliiit Hiver he has .seen it fly in large Hocks, like th )mmon .Snow (loose. Near 



Cumberland House and It:is(pii,an this bird is found in such numbers that the Indians, 

 in the moonlight, fretpiently kill upwards of twenty at a shot. Like the " II(Uiieil 

 Wavpy" (.Itisfr It'iissi), it never Hies with the lesid of the shore, hut is always seen 

 arriving froih the, westward. The general briM'ding-pl.aces of this sjM'cies were not 

 known to .Mr. Ilnarne, although a few of their eggs had Imhmi occasionally found north 

 of Churchill River, (^iptain TUakiston speaks of this (loose as being a couuuou hiril 

 on the Saskatchewan in the spring and .autumn, especially in th(i latter season, when 

 it is found in immense nnmlK-rs. Mr. Koss also found it abundant on tlui Mackenzie, 

 as far north as the Arctic, coast. The marshy country l)ordering the lower parts oi 

 the S.xskatchewan River, in the neighborhood of Fort Cumlmrland, is a great resoi i 

 of this species. 



