BIRDS. 



91 



her eggs, the female flew straight away and alighted at some distance, sometimes half a mile from 

 the nest, showing very lirtle concern. The male was rarely seen in the vicinity of the nest. The 

 young arc hatched the last of June or first of July, and the adult liirds undergo the summer 

 moult irom the last of July to the middle of August. 



During this season the Eskimo set long lines of nets across the marshes and make drives of 

 water fowl which have moulted their quill feathers. The slaughter is enormous ; the wasteful 

 savages render it still worse by killing thousands of young birds which are entrapped, saying that 

 tlicy will thus prevent their being in the way during the next drive. 



Tens of thousands of geese are annually killed in the drives from the Yukon mouth south to 

 the Kuskoquim. In fall, as these geese regain their wings, they gather along the sea-coast and 

 seek their food from place to place until the approach of winter sends them a few hundred miles 

 south to the Aleutian Islands. 



The natives south of the Yukon use the skins of the Emperor Goose for making clothing, as 

 they also use the skins of the other water-fowl. They are more difficult to kill than the other 

 geese, and I have repeatedly knocked them down with a charge of shot and seen them make ofi 

 apparently unhurt a moment later. 



The first plumage is known by the black or dark spots sprinkled over the white hood. In 

 this stage the feet and legs are dusky olive-yellow, the iris dark hazel ; lower mandible horu- 

 black, as is the lower border of the upper mandible. The upper surface of the latter is blotched 

 with dark horn color on a livid purplish ground color, tinging the dark mottling. After careful 

 examination I found the adult males and females to be absolutely indistinguishable, although 

 there is considerable individual variation. A fine adult female taken at the Y'ukoii mouth 

 May 22 (Xo. 1067) had its iris hazel: lower mandible dark horn-color, with a white spot on each 

 side of the rami; membrane about uares lirid-blue, the rest of up])er surface of bill pale puridish 

 or fleshy white; edge of nail dark horn color — rest of same white; inside of mouth mottled black 

 and white; feet and legs a bright, rich orange-yellow. The following measurements, taken from 

 the fresh birds, wdl show the length and spread of wings: 



During Billings's Expedition to the Aleutian Islands, about IT'.Kt. the Emperor Goose was 

 described by Saner, who noted its arrival at Uualaska August .SI and its departure the 18th of 

 the following April. It winters abundantly on the Near Islands. 



The latest contribution to its history is by Mr. C. H. Townsend. who records the capture of 

 an Emperor Goose on Humboldt Bay, ^^orthe^n California, by Mr. Charles Fiebig, in the winter 

 of 18S4, and the latter stated that these geese occur there at long intervals. 



Olou colvmbiakus (Ord). Whistling Swan (Esk. Kori-fi-tlink). 



This fine bird arrives on the shore of Bering Sea in the vicinity of Saint Michaels early in 

 May, and in some seasons by the 27th of April, as in 1878, when .several were seen on that date 

 about a spring-hole in the ice. At this time the ground was clothed with over a foot of sno\}', and 

 the .sea covered, as far as could be seen, with unbroken ice. During the next few days a terrible 

 storm of wind and snow sweiit over the country, but did the.se birds no harm, as was seen directly 

 after the storm ceased by their presence at the water-hole as usual. Mr. Dall records their arrival 

 on the Y'nkon about May 1, and notes the fact of their descending that stream in place of going 

 up the Y'nkon, as most of the geese do at this season. 



The birds arrive singly or in small parties on the coast, and directly after scatter to their sum 

 nier haunts. At Kulato, Dall found them laying their eggs by May 21, but on the sea-coast May 

 30 is the earliest date I have of their eggs being taken. Dall states that they lay two eggs, but 



