128 Canadian Record of Science. 
the head and neck. To prove the correctness of this, I 
obtained the specimens shown on the table, namely, an old 
and young snow goose, and an old and young blue-winged, 
shot in autumn on their return from breeding in the north. 
In the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 
1882, Section IV. p. 49, there is a paper entitled ‘ Notes 
on the Birds of Hudson’s Bay,”' in which we are told that 
“there appears to be no doubt that the blue-wavies are only the 
young of the white.” This is, of course, a mistake, but there 
are other inaccuracies in the same paper. For example, 
it states that minick, gadwall and grey duck, are one and 
the same bird. The pintail, (Dajila acuta) is the minick, 
aname given to it by the Indians in imitation of its call. 
The long-tailed duck is called in the paper Dajila acuta, 
but this is the scientific name of the pintail. The long- 
tail or (Ka-ca-ca-mee) of the Indians is F. glacialis. 
The same paper says “that in the breeding season the 
male of the willow grouse has the head and neck of a 
reddish pheasant color, with the exception of the wings, 
which have a good deal of white,” and that in the winter 
the white of the living bird “has a beautifully delicate 
rosy tint, which forms a considerable contrast with the sur- 
rounding snow.” ‘The summer plumage resembles the 
plumage of the Scottish cock grouse, but the wing feathers 
are always white, whilst the “rosy tint” is only to be seen 
on fine, mild and sunny days, never during cold dull weather. 
After this brief digression let me return to my subject. 
The snow and blue-winged geese have a peculiarity I 
have never noticed in any other species. Previous 
to taking their southern flight from Hudson’s Bay, they 
are for several days almost constantly on the open sea, 
never feeding, but busy washing themselves, taking short 
and rapid flights, and apparently having a good romp 
and great enjoyment. They are at this time very fat, and 
when shot, their stomachs and intestines are found perfectly 
empty, resembling, I am told, in this respect, those of 
salmon, prior to the hard work of ascending rivers to the 
1 By R. Bell, M.D., F.G.S., &c. 
