ROSS'S SNOW GOOSE. 



'T*HIS is one of the smallest Geese known, a fully adult 

 bird weighing only about two and a half to three 

 pounds. It is remarkable for the curious carunculations 

 at the base of the bill. It breeds in some part of the 

 Arctic regions, but its nest and eggs have not as yet been 

 discovered. Ross's Goose has never been found on the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States, but it is not uncom- 

 mon in parts of California in winter, and has been seen 

 in the San Joaquin Valley in considerable numbers. Its 

 journey to the south seems to lie to the westward en- 

 tirely, and but little is known of its habits beyond the few 

 observations made in California, and I have always re- 

 garded it as the rarest of our Geese. It has a cry like that 

 of the Cackling Goose, and usually associates with the 

 Lesser Snow Goose, and accompanies flocks of that bird 

 in the air, flying on one side or the other, or else is scat- 

 tered throughout the ranks of the main body of the larger 

 birds. It was discovered by Hearne, who called it the 

 Horned Wavey and said that two or three hundred miles 

 west of Churchill, which is near the west shore of Hud- 

 son Bay, he saw them in as large flocks as the Common 

 Wavey or Snow Goose. The flesh, he says, was ex- 

 tremely delicate, and as a proof of it he ate two of them 

 one night for supper, which was doing very well, even for 

 an Arctic appetite. It is a beautiful little bird, and it is 

 to be regretted that more do not enter within our limits. 



