BEAJ!fTA. 203 



admits six species, five of which are found in North America, but only one has been 

 met with within our limits. 



1. Branta canadensis. 



The Canada Goose, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol, i. p. 92, t, 92 '. 



Anas canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 198 \ 



Bernicla canadensis, Duges, La Nat. i. p. ] 43 '. 



Bernicla canadensis, \wc. occidentalis, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 313'; Baird, Brewer, 



& Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 455 ^ 

 Branta canadensis, Saivad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 112 °j A. O. U. Check-1. N. Amer, Birds, 



p. 62 ^ 



Pileo colloque nigris, hoc basin versus albo ; gutture et plaga genas transeunte et ad regionem parofcieam pos- 

 ticam extensa albis ; dorso brunneo ; uropygio nigro ; supracaudalibus albis ; primariis nigris, tectricibus 

 alarum et secundariis brunneis, pallidiore brunneo marginatis ; rectricibus nigris; pectore et abdomine 

 summo albicanti-brunneis, abdomine imo et subcaudalibus albis : rostro nigro ; pedibus saturate plumbeis, 

 fere nigris ; iride saturate brunnea. Long, tota circa 40'0, alae 21"0, culm. 2-7, tarsi 3-7. (Descr. maris 

 adulti ex Corpus Christi, Texas. Mus. nostr.) 



5 mari similis, sed minor. Long, tota 30"0, alae 15'0, culm. 1-55, tarsi 2-2i5. 



Juv. Multo minor, et plumis albis facialibus nigro marginatis. 



Hah. Tempeeate North America, breeding in the Northern United States and British 

 Provinces, south in winter^. — Mexico, Durango ((rraysow*), Guanajuato, Guada- 

 lajara {Duges ^). 



The Canada Goose has a very extended range in North America, breeding in the 

 Arctic regions and as far south as 42° N. lat. It is abundant on all the waters of the 

 interior. Four forms of B. canadensis have been recognized by American ornithologists, 

 but Count Salvadori does not consider them to be distinct. 



The typical form appears to be the one which occurs in Mexico, where the Canada 

 Goose has been recorded by Duges from Guanajuato and Guadalajara, and by Grayson 

 from Duranso. The latter met with it on the road between the Sierra Madre 

 Mountains and the city of Durango in the months of February and March, but he 

 never saw or heard of one west of the Cordilleras in that locality, 



B. canadensis is the earliest to arrive at its breeding-quarters in Arctic America, 

 where it nests on the plains and in the marshes. Though very tame at this season, it 

 becomes more wary afterwards, and is then diflficult of approach. When the young 

 have not yet gained their full plumage, and the old birds are shedding their quills, 

 and both are thus unable to fly, they are slaughtered in large numbers. 



The nest is generally on the ground, and consists of dead sticks and moss lined with 

 down ; but occasionally the eggs are laid in the old nest of a Hawk, or other large 

 bird, in a tree. The eggs are ivory-white, and six to nine in number. 



2G* 



