20 



THE OOLOGIST 



THE GEESE. 



Among the -wildest and wisest of 

 our wild birds are the geese. To refer 

 to a person as a "goose" is to brand 

 him as one having little or no sense; 

 whereas, as a matter of fact, there are 

 but few wild birds that are as able to 

 take care of themselves as our wild 

 geese. 



Sixteen varieties of wild geese are 

 found within that part of the North 

 American continent covered by the 

 A. O. II. list. They may be conven- 

 iently divided as follows: 



The Snow Goose, inhabitating the 

 Northwestern part of the continent; 

 The Greater Snow Goose, inhabiting 

 the Northeastern part of the conti- 

 nent; the Blue Goose, inhabiting Un- 

 gava, the Hudson Bay territory and 

 Southwesterly into the Mississippi 

 Valley; and Ross's Snow Goose, inhab- 

 iting the Northwesterly part of the 

 continent, all being closely related. 



The European White-fronted Goose, 

 the Bean Goose, Pink-footed Goose, 

 and Barnacle Goose being each old 

 world wanderers and only occasional- 

 ly found within our borders. 



The American White-fronted Goose 

 or Gray Brant being generally distrib- 

 uted from the shores of the Arctic 

 Seas South across the United States. 



The Canada Goose, Hutchins Goose, 

 White-checked Goose and Cackling 

 Goose being closely related, and so 

 far as the author is concerned, there 

 being very doubtful grounds for the 

 separation of some of these so call- 

 ed varieties. These former of Canada 

 geese range over practically the whole 

 of the United States. The Canada and 

 Hutchins Geese being genrally con- 

 fined to that part of the United States 

 East of the Rocky Mountains; while 

 the White-cheeked and Cackling geese 

 are usually found West of the Rocky 

 mountains. 



The Common Brant is found in 



Eastern North America. The Brant in- 

 habiting the Northern Hemisphere. The 

 Black Brant being confined to West- 

 ern North America while the Emper- 

 or Goose, a short, thick stocky, white 

 or yellow variety with markings not 

 altogether unlike a Plymouth Rock 

 chicken, is confined to Alaska and the 

 sea coast South of it. 



For many years the writer has ex- 

 perimented with the keeping of var- 

 ious of these birds on his home place 

 in an effort to domesticate or semi- 

 domesticate them. The results have 

 been highly gratifying, and young 

 birds are raised nearly every year. 



These birds are of a kind that do 

 not require much special attention 

 as to feed, as geese are substantialb 

 all of them grazing birds; that is, 

 thej' live largely upon grasses. In 

 the Winter season they should be fed 

 mostly on grain, mixed with chopped 

 clover, alfalfa or tame hay of some 

 kind, and should always have a place 

 where they can bathe at least once a 

 day. In Summer season, merely turn 

 them out in the pasture and give 

 them a little grain occasionally by 

 way of variety, of course seeing that 

 they have sufficient water for all pur- 

 poses. There are but few birds that 

 are as easily kept and require as little 

 attention. The different varieties get 

 along ■\yell together unless the quar- 

 ters are too confining. An ideal place 

 for these birds is an open pasture with 

 a marshy creek or slough running 

 through it. In such surroundings and 

 with proper attention, they maj- be as 

 easily raised as tame geese. 



It is a pleasure to present the fol- 

 lowing series of photographs taken 

 upon our home place during the month 

 of January, 1911. Though the prints 

 are not as good as we hoped, yet they 

 sive an idea of what may be done 

 with these birds along this line. 



