‘ 
Canada Goose 69 
b. Smaller; wing 15—17; 16 tail-feathers. B. c. hutchinsi, p. 70 
c. Smallest; wing under 15; 14—16 tail-feathers. 
B, cv. minima, p. 70. 
B. No white cheek-patch; head wholly black. 
B. b. glaucogastra, p. 71. 
Canada Goose. Branta canadensis. 
A.0.U. Checklist no 172—Colorado Records—Ridgway 73, p. 188 
Coues 77, p. 51 ; Drew 85, p. 18 ; Morrison 89, p. 166 ; Cooke 97, pp. 58, 
156, 196 ; 06, p. 72; Henderson 03, p. 234; 09, p. 226; Rockwell 08, 
p. 158; Warren 09, p. 13. 
Description.— Adult—-Head, neck, rump and tail black; a white 
patch on the face behind the eye, meeting its fellow below ; upper- 
parts greyish-brown, with paler tips to many of the feathers, and dusky 
to blackish on the flight-feathers; upper tail-coverts white; below 
ashy grey, becoming white on the abdomen, and under tail-coverts ; 
tail with eighteen or twenty feathers; iris brown, bill and legs black. 
Length about 36-0; wing 18-20; tail 7-0; culmen 2-0; tarsus 3-5. 
Young birds have the white of the cheeks speckled with dusky. 
Distribution.—Breeding from Newfoundland_to Iowa and the interior 
of British Columbia northwards; wintering in the southern United 
States from Maryland to California. 
In Colorado this is probably the most common of the Wild Geese ; 
it is known as a summer resident, chiefly in the north, as a winter 
resident in the south and north, and perhaps most commonly as a 
migrant. It was found breeding by Coues in a small lake on the 
southern slopes of North Park many years ago. Carter reports it 
as breeding in Middle Park, while Cooke discovered that it nested 
near Niwot in Boulder co. at the low elevation, of 5,500 feet. At Barr 
it is a fairly common winter resident, and still more common on 
migration. It has been noted by Gale in the Boulder foothills, March 
17th, by Sullivan at Grand Junction, a large flock, March 18th (Rock- 
well), and by Smith at Coventry in spring (Warren). It is possible 
some of these notices refer to the smaller Hutchins’s Goose. 
Habits.—The familiar ‘“‘ Honk, honk, honk,” of the 
migrating Canada Goose is well known over the greater 
part of North America, and notwithstanding the many 
wiles and devices of the gunner they still hold their 
own. Their flight is strong and steady, and very high 
up when migrating, the flock forming a V or long line ; 
when in winter quarters they spend the night on the 
