BihDS. 89 



At roiut x>airow, according to Murdocb, tuese birds aiTi\ e at the end of the waterfowl 

 luigratiou in spring, as tney do in Norton aound. TUey leave the former place for the south by 

 tneend of September. A lew breed tliere ana lay irom four to six eggs in a marshy place. 



A young female of the year has the wliite nuclial eoilar ot the adult indicated by a sprinkling of 

 white featliers in front and on sides of neck, but not behind. The feathers of the back are edged 

 with brown. There are two white bands across middle ot wing, and the secondaries and tertiaries 

 are tipped with white. The feathers of aoitomen are tipped with grayish, but the broad, white 

 deckings along the sides and flank of the adult are wanting. 



90. Philacte CANAGiCA(Sevast.). Emperor Goose (Esk. A'ric'/irtft-?/(ZiU). 



Among the various species of birds more or less peculiar to Alaska this goose is perhaps the 

 most noteworthy, llie limited area covered by it in its migration, its narrow range, reaching only 

 across tbe area bounded by tue Aleutian islands on the south, and the vicinity of Bering Straits on 

 the nortb, and tlie little known concerning its lite- history, ail, joined to render this bird one of the 

 principal objects of my attention at saint Jiicliaeis. 



The Aleuts call these birds "beacli geese,' from their habit of frequenting the beaches, on 

 these islands, at low tide, to feed. Un sanaii and otner of the Eastern Aleutian Islands, on the 

 Pacific side of the chain, these birds winter in extraordinary abundance, and are found at times 

 the entire length of tlie chain, Mr. Dall's statement (Proc. Oai. Acad. Sci., February S, 1873, and 

 March 14, 1874) of the absence of these birds on tne western half of the Aleutian Islands being 

 based upon erroneous information, iney are tar more numerous, however, on the eastern half. 



Elliott records them as stragglers on tlie J'ur beai Islands, where they sometimes land in such 

 an exhausted condition that the natives catcu tuem in open chase over the grass. Dr. Adams 

 found them at Port Clarence, in Bering Straits, in tne summer of 1851. While lying becalmed ott 

 the Yukon mouth, June 17, 1877, 1 saw turee of tbese birds heading across the sea towards Saint 

 Tawreiice Island, where, during the summer of 1881, tuey were found abundant on the southwest 

 coast. They were also found there by liiiiott some years previously, thus showing them to be 

 regular summer residents. 



Cpoii ttie north coast of Siberia, just west of tiering Straits, Nonlenskjold found them in 

 early summer, so there is little question that tney Dreed thus far north at least, although I ilid 

 not find a single specimen tluring my visits to tne same siiore in the summer of 1881. On the 

 Alaskan side it is not very rare in Goioviua liay ami Port (Jiarence, both near the Straits, and 

 thence south it is found more commonly, although still scarce, until the Yukon delta is reached ; 

 here, upon the seaward part of this series of islands and along the marshy coast to the south, 

 between the Y'ukon and Kuskoquim llivers, they lind their most congenial breeding ground, and 

 here they occur m great numbers, not, however, to the exclusion of the other geese, as Mr. Ball's 

 informant told him was the case on the Kusievak month of the Yukon, a statement I did not find 

 verified on my visit to that jiart of the delta. 



As an important part ot tins bircfs history 1 include here some extracts from the Nova Acta 

 Acad. Petropol., whei-e, in Tome Xili, jjp. diu to 3oi, is the original description based upon a speci- 

 men secured by Hillings on hi5 voyage to our coast near the close of last century. This specimen 

 was described on Uctober 8, 1801), at the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, as quoted above, 

 xt is stated that this example was obtained upon the isle of Canaga, or Kyktak, one of the 

 Aleutian islands nearest the American coast, and situated behind the Cape Aliaska: "Et que le 

 nom de Tespece, c'est a dire ' Canagica, a ete impose A cet oiseau du iiom de la premiere isle, on 

 de celui des principaux habitans (le i'lsie Kyktak, appellee Caiiiagues on (\uiagues, (jui peut-etre 

 ayant apprivoises cet oiseau rout rendu domestique.-' Which latter is a rather naive surmise 

 on the part of our worthy author, not sustained l\v subsequent investigation. A miserable wood- 

 cut accompanies this description. 1 have been to considerable trouble to locate the island whence 

 the original specimen came, but have been unable to riinl it under the names given on any English) 

 Kussian, or American chart l have examined. 



up to the time of the Telegraph Expedition but little was known of these geese, and the little 

 information secured by the explorers at that time served to draw the attention of ornithologists 

 to this hyperborean species. 

 S. Mis. lou 1-' 



