Geese 



and the mellow honk of the Canada brant. It migrates by night 

 and day ; observes punctual meal hours like the the rest of its 

 kin ; keeps a sentinel always on guard while it feeds in the grain 

 fields or roots among the rushes on the tide-water flats and 

 grassy patches bordering streams ; circles, gyrates, tumbles, and 

 floats above the water on returning from its feeding grounds. 

 In short, it behaves quite as other geese do when intoxicated 

 with food. 



While it is supposed the white brant nests somewhere in the 

 region of the Barren Grounds between the Mackenzie basin and 

 Greenland, the nest and eggs are still unknown in that little- 

 visited country beyond the north wind {hyperboreus), as the 

 bird's name indicates. 



The Lesser Snow Goose (Chen hyperborea), a smaller species, 

 identical in plumage with the preceding, and very like it in habits, 

 nests in Alaska, and wanders down the Pacific coast in winter, 

 eastward to the Mississippi and southward to the Gulf. 



Canada Goose 



(Branta canadensis) 



Called also: WILD GOOSE; GRAY GOOSE; HONKER 

 (Illustration facing p. 144) 



Length — From i yard to 43 inches. 



Male and Female — Head and neck black, a broad white band run- 

 ning from eye to eye under the head ; mantle over back and 

 wings grayish brown, the edges of feathers lightest ; breast 

 gray, fading to soiled white underneath. Female paler ; tail, 

 bill, and feet black. 



Range — North America at large ; nests in northern parts of the 

 United States and in the British possessions ; winters south- 

 ward to Mexico. 



Season — Chiefly a spring and autumn migrant, north of Washing- 

 ton ; although a few remain so late (December) and return so 

 early (March) they may almost be said to be winter resi- 

 dents north as well as in the south. The most abundant and 

 widely distributed of all our wild geese. 



Heralded by a mellow honh, honk, from the leader of a flying 

 wedge, on come the long-necked wild geese from their northern 

 nesting grounds, and stream across the sky so far above us that 



137 



