THE SNOW-GEESE, BRANT, ETC. 157 



They are very abundant on the Pacific Coast, and in 

 the Mississippi valley and in parts of Texas in the 

 winter. The shooting of these geese is similar to that 

 of the common wild-geese already discribed. They 

 do not, I believe, come as readily to decoys. 



We occasionally took a long shot with a rifle at a 

 flock of these birds which covered a large area of 

 ground so closely that it seemed impossible to miss 

 them, but such shots were usually not effective. As 

 the ball struck among them, however, it was an amaz- 

 ing sight to see them arise from the ground like great 

 white clouds. 



An army officer with whom I was shooting on the 

 ponds about the Cheyenne River one day wounded a 

 snow-goose slightly in the wing, and after a long chase 

 we captured it. It soon became quite tame, and ap- 

 pears in a number of photographs of our camps, stand- 

 ing like a domestic fowl, quite unconcerned by the 

 presence of its enemies. 



Some one named it Genevieve, and when we moved 

 our camp it usuall}'^ had a seat in the ambulance, often 

 in the lap of an officer, and became quite tame. When 

 we returned to Fort Totten it was turned loose in a 

 yard with some chickens and appeared perfectly at 

 home, but when it recovered of its wound it took wing 

 one day and joined one of the flocks which were con- 

 tinually seen in the sky passing over. 



Ross's snow-goose is not uncommon in California, 

 but is never found on the Atlantic Coast. But little is 

 known of its habits, since it is a rare bird. It associ- 

 ates with the lesser snow-goose. Hearne is quoted by 

 Elliot as saying that its flesh is extremely delicate, and 



