Goose-shooting 225 



being in lines. It seldom utters any note, though 

 occasionally, when attracted by other geese, or 

 wounded, a shrill honk is heard. A white line of 

 these birds along the shore or high in air is a 

 beautiful sight. On Currituck Bay small flocks 

 are not infrequently seen along the sand-bars, 

 where they are occasionally shot over live geese 

 decoys, or sometimes when a straggler comes 

 within range of the blind. In one of the clubs, 

 among the decoy geese, is a live, domesticated bird 

 of this species, almost as large as a Canada goose. 

 Grasses growing under water, various vege- 

 tables, and small crustaceans are its diet. The 

 flesh is not prized for food. The weight is from 

 six to ten pounds. 



BLUE GOOSE 

 {Chen carulescens) 



Adult male and female — Head and upper half of the neck, white, 

 sometimes washed with rusty anteriorly ; back and breast, dark 

 slate; the feathers tipped with lighter brown; wing-coverts, 

 blue-gray ; secondaries, dark brown, edged with white ; prima- 

 ries, black, fading into gray ; flanks, brownish gray; under 

 parts, gray ; rump, upper and under tail-coverts, grayish ; tail, 

 deep brownish gray, bordered with white; bill and feet, red- 

 dish ; iris, brown. 



Measurements — Total length, 28 inches; wings, 16 inches; tar- 

 sus, 3.10 inches; culmen, 2.20 inches. 



Young — Somewhat similar, but less showy ; the head and neck, 

 gray-brown, with a white chin ; the body more cinereous than in 

 the adult ; bill and feet, dusky. 



Habitat — Breeds probably on the northeastern shores of Hudson 

 Bay. Winters chiefly on the coast of Louisiana, occasionally 



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