i8 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA [No. i. 



When passing from one feeding ground to another, fhese flocks were extremely 

 noisy, and could thus be followed and located after they had alighted. The last 

 were seen flying south on September 1 2th. In the spring of '99 I saw the first 

 White-fronted Geese on May loth, three flying low over the ice-covered river. 

 An Indian reported seeing two geese two days previously, which were also prob- 

 ably of this species. During the succeeding week the geese arrived in full force, 

 though usually seen in pairs or small companies of not more than eight. The 

 wind-swept sand-bars along the rivers were the first spots to become bare of snow, 

 and on such places the birds would alight and remain silently for hours. By the 

 1 8th they became very noisy, and scattered out over the tundras, frequenting the 

 grassy margins of lakes where the natives told me the geese would shortly begin 

 laying. But circumstances prevented me from looking for the eggs at the proper 

 season. On their arrival in the spring the White-fronted and Hutchins's Geese 

 were extremely lean. The weights of two males of the latter were 534 and 4)^ 

 pounds. A male of the former species weighed 43^ pounds. In the Kowak delta, 

 on June 24th, Dr. Cofiin obtained a brood of four downy young, together with the 

 female parent. He discovered them by flushing the old bird from immediately in 

 front of him as he was walking around the marshy edge of a lake. The juveniles 

 are a beautiful silky olive green above, much lighter beneath, inclining, to straw 

 yellow. The native name of this goose is Ke-e'o"bk. 



Branta canadensis hutchinsii (Rich.). 



Hutchins's Goose. 



This was a common goose in the Kowak Valley, but I did not see it on the 

 sea-coast. In the fall flocks were to be found on the same feeding grounds as the 

 White-fronted Goose, but the companies of the two species did not intermingle. 

 I saw the last for that season on September 14th. In the following spring the first 

 Hutchins's Geese were seen on May 14th. They became fairly numerous and soon 

 scattered out in pairs among the tundra lakes. The natives of the Kowak Valley 

 have a method of trapping geese, which is often a more sure way of obtaining 

 them than by shooting. Across a mud-flat, known to be a favorite resort of the 

 birds, several lines of brush are extended. These fences are very inconspicuous, 

 and ai-e sometimes only two or three willow saplings laid together lengthwise. 

 Gaps are left at intervals in these fences, and ordinary steel traps are set in the 

 openings. The geese while walking about in search of food come to these fences, 

 and however light the obstruction, dislike to step over, preferring to go around, 

 and in thus attempting to walk through one of the gaps, are caught. The natives 

 call this species Ik-sa-o'til-ik. 



Branta nigricans (Dawr.). 

 Black Brant. 



The presence of the Black Brant was detected only during the spring migra- 

 tions. At our winter camp on the Kowak the first were noted on May 31st, and 

 for the succeeding four days many flocks, some containing hundreds, were seen 

 flying northeast. A few of the birds stopped at night to feed, and at midnight of 



