CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. II 7 



the middle of June, fresh eggs may be found, but verj' soon after 

 the latter date downy young begin to appear. These geese 

 choose for a nesting place the grassy border of a small lakelet, 

 a knoll grown over with moss and grass, or even a flat sparingly 

 covered with grass. Along the Yukon, Dall found them breeding 

 gregariously, depositing their eggs in a hollow scooped out of 

 the sand. At the Yukon mouth and St. Michael they were found 

 breeding in scattered pairs over the flat country. Every one of 

 the nests examined by me, in these places, had a slight lining of 

 grass or moss, gathered by the parent, and upon this the first egg 

 was laid ; as the complement is approached, the female always 

 plucks down and feathers from her breast until, when incubation 

 commences, the eggs rest in a soft warm bed. The eggs vary 

 considerably in size and shape. Some are decidedly elongated, 

 others are decidedly oval. In colour they are dull-white, but 

 ordinarily present a dirty-brown appearance from being stained 

 in the nest. (Nelson. 



This species arrives at Point Barrow, Alaska, about the middle 

 of May, and for a couple of weeks is generally found in small 

 parties along the lagoons and the small pools which have opened 

 along the crown of the beach. As the snow cleared off — earlj- 

 in June — they scattered in pairs over the tundra, occasionally 

 feeding together in small parties of half a dozen or more. The 

 eggs are always laid in the black' muddy tundra, often on top of 

 a small knoll. The nest is lined with tundra moss and down. 

 The number of eggs appears to be subject to considerable 

 variation, as we found sets of four, six and seven, all well 

 advanced in incubation. The last egg is laid generally in the 

 middle of the nest, and may be recognized by its white shell 

 unless incubation is far advanced, the eggs being soiled by the 

 birds coming on and off the nest. (Murdoch^ 



A considerable number of the nests of this " Gray Wavey " were 

 discovered in the vicinity of fresh-water lakes in timber tracts as 

 well as along the Lower Anderson River to the sea. Some were 

 taken on the Arctic coast, and several, also, on islands and islets 

 in Franklin Bay. In all, about one hundred nests were secured. 

 The nest, which was always a mere shallow cavity in the ground, 

 in every observed and reported instance had more or less of a 

 lining of hay, feathers and down, while the maximum number 

 of eggs in no case exceeded seven. {Macfarlane.) 



