BIRDS OF NOETHERN CANADA 323 



tity of hay, feathers and do^vn, while six was about the usual 

 number of eggs. The exceptional case was that of a female 

 parent, shot while sitting on four eggs in a deserted crow 

 or hawk's nest built on the fork of a spruce tree, at a height 

 of about nine feet above the ground. At the time the sur- 

 rounding ground was still largely' covered with snow and 

 water, and this may have had something to do with the very 

 unusual location of the nest. Sir John Richardson states 

 that Hutchin's goose is met with around the shores and 

 on the islands of the Arctic Sea, but seldom frequents the 

 fresh waters of the interior during the summer months. All 

 of the geese herein mentioned appear in Mr. Ross's List. 



Mr. Dall says "they choose, in Alaska, the hill tops for 

 their breeding-places. We secured eggs on June 15th. and the 

 unfledged young July 10th. The nesting habits, notes and 

 general mode of life of Hutchin's goose are identical with 

 those of B. canadensis minima of the west, so they need not 

 be specially referred to here." The eggs are smaller than 

 those of the larger Canada goose and when first laid are fairly 

 white, but by the time incubation sets in all are soiled and 

 dingy. There are two skins, procured by Dr. Bell at Fort 

 Churchill, Hudson Bay, and but one egg, obtained in Repulse 

 Bay, north-west of Hudson Bay, in the Ottawa Museum ! 



172b. White-cheeked Goose — Brenta canadensis occiden- 



talis Baird. 



I quote from the 1891 paper: "If no eggs were taken, 

 it is almost certain that this large Canada goose is to be met 

 with — occasionally, at least, if not annually — on the Anderson, 

 as we had, melJiinks, more than one undoubted skin, or part 

 thereof, brought in during our residence there. This is 

 probably the new large goose entered as Bernicla harnstonii 

 in Mr. Ross's List." 



Mr. Dall states that during his residence on the coast 

 of Behring Sea this bird was not seen, and as hundreds of 

 the two other related species were examined both at St. 



