ElitDS. 89 



At Pome ojarrow, according to Murdocb, these birds anive at the eud of the water-fowl 

 migration in spring, as tney do in iNorton bound. They leave the former place for the south by 

 tneend of September. A lew breed there and lay from four to six eggs in a marshy i)lace. 



A young female of the year has the white nucnai collar of the adult indicated by a sprinkling of 

 white feathers in front and on sides of neck, but not behind. The feathers of the back are edged 

 with brown. There are two white bands across middle of wing, and the secondaries and tertiaries 

 are tipped with white. The feathers of aoaomen are tipped with grayish, but the broad, white 

 hecliings along the sides and flank of the aauit are wanting. 



90. Philacte CANAGicA(Sevast.). Emperov (ioose (Esk. Nd-chai-thlulc). 



Among the various species of birds more or less peculiar to Alaska this goose is perhaps the 

 most noteworthy. Tlie limited area covered by it in its migration, its narrow range, reaching only 

 across tlie area bounded by ttie Aleutian islands on the south, and the vicinity of Bering Straits on 

 the north, and the Jittle known concerning its iife-tiistory, ail joined to render this bird one of the 

 principal objects of my attention at Kaint Micliaeis. 



Ttie Aleuts call these birds " beacli geese," from their habit of frequenting the beaches, on 

 these islands, at low tide, to feed. Un Sanaii and otner of the Eastern Aleutian Islands, on the 

 Pacific side of the chain, these birds winter in extraordinary abundance, and are found at times 

 the entire length of the chain, Mr. Ball's statement (Proc. Gai. Acad. Sci., February 8, 1873, and 

 March 14, 1874) of the absence of these' birus on the western half of the Aleutian Islands being 

 based upon erroneous information, xney are far more numerous, however, on the eastern half.' 



Elliott records them as stragglers on tlie ± ur Seal Islands, where they sometimes land in such 

 an exhausted condition that the natives eaten tnem in open chase over the grass. Dr. Adams 

 found them at Port Clarence, in Bering Straits, in the summer of 1851. While lying becalmed ott 

 the Yukon mouth, June 17, 1877, 1 saw tliree of these birds heading across the sea towards Saint 

 Lawrence Island, where, during the summer of 1»»1, they were found abundant on the southwest 

 coast. Tney were also found there by liiiiiott some years previously, thus showing them to be 

 regular summer residents. 



Upon tlie north coast of Siberia, just west of Bering Straits, Nordenskjold found them in 

 early summer, so there is little question that tney breed thus far north at least, although I did 

 not find a single specimen during my visits to tne same shore in the summer of 1881. On the 

 Alaskan side it is not very rare in Golovma Bay and Port Clarence, both near the Straits, and 

 tnence south it is found more commonly, aitnough stiii scarce, until the Yukon delta is reached; 

 here, upon the seaward part of tnis series of islands and along the marshy coast to the south, 

 oetween the Yukon and Kuskoquim Kivers, they rind their most congenial breeding ground, and 

 here they occur in great numbers, not, however, to the exclusion of the other geese, as Mr. Dall's 

 informant told him was the case on tne Kusievak mouth oi the Yukon, a statement I did not find 

 verified on my visit to that part of tne delta. 



As an important part of this bird's history I include here some extracts from the Eova Acta 

 Acad. Petropol., where, in Tome Xill, pp. 546 to 351, is the original description based upon a speci- 

 men secured by Biiiings on nis voyage to our coast near the close of last century. This specimen, 

 was* described on October 8, 1800, at the imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, as quoted above, 

 it is stated that this example was obtained upon the isle of Caiiaga, or Kyktak, one of the 

 Aleutian islands nearest tne American coast, and situated behind the Cape' Aliaska: "Et que le 

 nom de l'esp6ce, c'est a dire ' Canagica, a ete impost a cet oiseau du uom de la premiere isle, ou 

 de celui des principaux habitans de iasie Kyktak, appellee Caniagues ou Cauagues, qui peut-6tre 

 ayant apprims6s cet oiseau i'ont rendu domestique." Vvhich latter is a rather naive surmise 

 on the part of our worthy author, not sustained by subsequent investigation. A miserable wood- 

 cut accompanies this description, i have been to considerable trouble to locate the island whence 

 the original specimen came, but have been unable to find it under the names given ou any English. 

 Kussian, or American chart i have examined. 



Up to the time of the Telegraph Expedition but little was known of these geese, and the little 

 information secured by the explorers at that time served to draw the attention of ornithologists 

 to tnis hyperborean species. 

 S. iviis. lot) iH 



