OLD CROW 163 



tinuous, and only a few mud and gravel banks were exposed. We 

 could not see a source of food available to the Canada geese which 

 passed during the first ten days nor did we get any indication that 

 they fed nearby. 



On May 18, three days before the ice began to run in the Porcupine, 

 the first large flock of 20 Canada geese was noticed flying eastward 

 in a V and honking. From that date until June 1 occasional flocks 

 formed in V's were seen, with considerable unorganized traffic. The 

 formed flocks were only noticed flying eastward. Two Canada geese 

 were seen flying in formation with a V of nine snow geese, and this 

 mixture was seen again. This association seems to indicate the west- 

 ern origin of these Canada geese. 



Two additional specimens were taken in 1958. 



On June 3 and 4 two pairs of Canada geese appeared as if settled 

 on the river bars near Kenneth Nukon's cabin. Francis Williamson 

 reported that Canada geese were settled along the river in numbers 

 increasing eastward from Nukon's cabin to Driftwood River and 

 Indians reported that in summer geese are most concentrated along 

 the eastern Porcupine and lower Bell River. Williamson collected 

 the first female specimen near Driftwood River, where it had evi- 

 dently begun to lay about June 1. 



On June 13 a few separate pairs were seen near Kenneth Nukon's 

 cabin. A flock of nine which included several birds without the 

 adult sharpness of the black-and-white pattern on the head were 

 feeding in a flock which included some mature appearing birds. As 

 they flew away honking, two others joined them. 



On June 17 a bird was wounded out of a flock of 12 which had 

 landed on the muddy bank of the slough near the village. Two days 

 later Robert Bruce collected it alone in a lake across the river. It 

 was a female with eggs 5 mm. long but showing no indication of 

 having laid. 



Peter Lord reported the arrival of geese at Crow Flats on May 7, 

 one day after the first sight of them at the village, a schedule sug- 

 gesting that they came in the same migratory movement which first 

 brought geese to the village. But at Johnson Creek, a tributary en- 

 tering the upper Porcupine about 80 miles south by east from Old 

 Crow, Lazarus Charlie reported the arrival of geese on April 30, 

 eight days before they were seen at Old Crow. This discontinuity 

 of schedule suggests that either migration is markedly retarded in 

 that area, or that Johnson Creek is on a different migratory route. 

 The arrival at Johnson Creek was slightly later than the dates reported 

 in earlier years at Frances Lake and Sheldon Lake, about 300 miles 

 further south by east from Old Crow (Rand, 1946). Murray's old 

 report (Richardson, 1852, p. 304) places the arrival of geese at Fort 



