24 



THE OOLOGIST 



169.1 Blue Goose, Chen caerulescens. 



It is with more than ordinary pleas- 

 ure that we present the foregoing, the 

 first and only picture of the rare Blue 

 Goose ever taken and published. This 

 of itself is no small feather in the 

 cap of THE OOLOGIST. 



For many years the Blue Goose was 

 supposed to be either the Greater or 

 Lesser Snow Goose, or both in pro- 

 cess of molt. It was supposed that 

 the head and neck had molted and 

 that eventually the blue feathers on 

 the body would molt and the bird 

 would turn white. 



But the closer observation of the 

 Indian dispelled this erroneous idea 

 of the white man. The Indians ob- 

 served that the Blue Geese always 

 came to Hudson's Bay from the North- 

 east and that the White or Snow 

 Geese always came down from the 

 North or Northwest. It is now deter- 

 mined for a certainty that the Blue 

 Goose nests in Northern Ungava, 

 though as yet the eggs and nests are 

 unknown to science. 



The birds usually follow a South- 

 westerly course until they strike Hud- 

 son's Bay. Then scatter along both 

 shores of that body of water and grad- 

 ually work South through the Center 

 of the Mississippi valley, in Winter 

 They are a Northern bird and 

 usually do not go very far South; 

 remaining as far North as open wat- 

 er will furnish them with sustenance. 

 The most Northerly point on the West 

 shore of Hudson's Bay at which this 

 bird has been noted is in the vicinity 

 of Fort Churchill; and in the Bast it 

 has been found as far as New Hamp- 

 shire, though of course, these records 

 are very unusual. 



The only Blue Goose ever seen or 

 known by the writer to have been 

 within Marshall County, Illinois, ex- 

 cept those shown above, was in 1879, 

 when he killed one on the ice at the 

 mouth of Gar Lake, just across the 

 river from the city of Lacon. 



The four birds shown in the pho- 

 tograph have been in confinement for 

 above a year, are all pinioned, and 

 take kindly to their new surroundings. 

 Like all the Snow Geese, they live 

 largely upon grasses and are a little 

 inclined to be wild. 



170 Ross's Goose, Chen' Rossi. 



With this species as with the pre- 

 ceding, it is with a feeling of genuine 

 pride that we present with this issue, 

 the first published plate made from an 

 original photograph of living birds of 

 this species. The half tone at the 

 head of this article was made from a 

 photograph of seven of these birds on 

 our grounds at Lacon. 



A number of other birds of the 

 same species can be seen in the half- 

 tone made from a photograph furnish- 

 ed us by R. H. Beck, and appearing in 

 this Issue. 



This bird ranges along the Arctic 

 Sea from Fort Anderson East to Hud- 

 son's Bay, though it is rare at each 

 end of these extremes. It is suppos- 

 ed to breed somewhere North of the 

 territory lying between the 100th and 

 120th meridian of Longitude either 

 on the shores or islands of the Arc- 

 tic Sea. So far, its nests and eggs are 

 unknown. 



For many years this species was 

 supposed to be merely the immature 

 Snow Goose, but closer inspection dis- 

 closed the fact that it was an inde- 

 pendent species, standing on good 

 ground. 



It is but little larger than a Mallard 

 Duck rather chubby in appearance, 

 with a warty growth around the base 

 of the bill, somewhat similar to that 

 growing on a turkey gobbler's neck, 

 though of a bluish instead of a red- 

 dish color. In appearance they seem 

 to be very heavily feathered at a lit- 

 tle distance looking like they were 

 covered with a heavy coat of swan's 

 down. They are of an exceedingly 

 gentle and quiet disposition, take read- 

 ily to confinement, and without doubt 

 could be easily and thoroughly do- 

 mesticated. 



They are the most beautiful of all 

 geese in appearance; at least to the 

 eye of the writer. They have but one 

 call so far as we know — a peculiar 

 subdued "mooing" sounding not un- 

 like the distant lowing of a cow, 

 though much more musical, and much 

 shorter in duration. 



Next to the true Canada Goose, 

 they are the quietest of all the geese 

 in our pens, and so far as we know, 

 there is but one other pair in confine- 

 ment anywhere East of the Rocky 

 mountains aside from those shown on 

 the following page. 



