324 THEOUGH THE MACKElfZIE BASIN 



Michael and the Yukon mouth, it appears evident that it is 

 found in Alaska as a straggler, or not at all. He, however, 

 records specimens taken at Sitka. Mr. Brooks says it is 

 much rarer than the Canada goose proper in the lov^er 

 Eraser Eiver valley. There is not a single specimen of bird 

 or egg of this large Canadian goose in the IN'ational Museum 

 at Ottawa! 



174. Black Beai^^t — Branta nigricans (Lawrence). 



Professor Macoun has somehow made no reference what- 

 ever to the following entry in the aforesaid paper : " This 

 goose is exceedingly abundant on the Arctic coast of Liver- 

 pool Bay, but it is comparatively rare in Franklin Bay. 

 Large numbers of eggs were obtained by the Eskimos in the 

 first mentioned, but hardly any in the latter, locality. We 

 never, however, observed any of these birds passing the post 

 on their usual spring and autumn migrations. Six hundred 

 and fifty eggs were packed up for shipment from Fort Ander- 

 son for the Smithsonian Institution." Mr. Boss thinks this 

 may be Cassin's B. nigricans of the Pacific Fauna. 



According to Mr. Murdoch, " the nest of this bird is 

 placed in rather marshy ground, and is a simple depression 

 lined with down, with which the eggs are completely covered 

 when the parent leaves the nest. They sometimes begin to 

 sit on four eggs and sometimes lay as many as six." The 

 Ottawa Museum Collection holds but one pair, shot at Kadiak 

 Island, Alaska, and no eggs ! 



180. Whistling Swan — Olor columhianus (Ord). 



For some time back swans seem to be annually dwindling 

 in numbers. At Fort Anderson, however, twenty nests were 

 secured and duly forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution 

 at Washington. 



The maximum number of eggs taken in the referred-to 

 twenty nests of this swan which I find recorded was five, 

 while the nests were always placed on the ground. Several 



