AMERICAN WHITE-FSONTED GOOSE 219 



in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley. Arrives in early September and leaves 

 in April.* 



The American White-fronted Goose is a common winter visitant 

 in California, and is much prized here as a game bird. While it 

 occurs almost everywhere in the lowland portions of the state the 

 center of abundance is on the plains and marshes of the Sacramento- 

 San Joaqtiin Valley. This species is the first of its tribe to arrive in 

 the fall and the last to leave in the spring. Belding (MS) noted its 

 arrival at Stockton, San Joaquin County, on September 7, 1878, and 

 September 8, 1881. At the same place they were last seen by him 

 April 27, 1879, May 2, 1880, and April 29, 1896. His latest date of 

 spring occurrence is May 3. At Los Banos, Merced County, Beck 

 (MS) found this goose still present on April 22, 1912. The early 

 arrival of this species from the north has doubtless been the basis for 

 many of the predictions of an early winter which are sent to news- 

 papers by local "weather prophets." 



The irregular black markings on the breast and belly of this bird 

 have given rise to such names as Speckle-belly and Checker-breast, 

 while its general gray tone of coloration has suggested the name Gray 

 Goose in contradistinction to the white Snow Geese and black-headed 

 Canada Geese and Brant. The white area about the bill is the basis 

 of the accepted common name. White-fronted Goose. The black 

 blotched breast, gray back, and white ring on the face, together with 

 the large size, and light colored bill and feet, make this goose very 

 easy to identify (pi. 6). The Snow and Ross geese are chiefly white, 

 the Canada geese and Brant have black heads, necks and feet, and 

 the rather rare Emperor Goose has the whole top of the head white. 

 The loud harsh call-note of the White-fronted is said by hunters to 

 be distinctive. 



The American White-fronted Goose nests in northern and western 

 Alaska and eastward along the Arctic coast of British America to 



* Since the above chapter on the White-fronted Goose was set in type, the discovery has 

 been made that two subspecies of Anser albifronit occur in winter in California (see Swarth 

 and Bryant, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 17, October 19, 1917, pp. 209-222, pi. 13). The 

 most abundant of the two is exactly as described above but its name should be Anser aUiifrons 

 albifrons. The newly distinguished and relatively rare bird, the "Tule Goose," properly bears 

 the name Anser albifrons gambeli. 



The differences existing between the two subspecies may be summarized as follows : 

 Anser albifrons albifrons 



Size small: wing 15.12-16.62 inches (384-422 mm.); bill small: culmen 1.73-2.05 

 (44-52) ; weight 3 lbs. 14 oz. to 5 lbs. 8 oz. (five specimens) ; tail feathers, sixteen; 

 coloration in general paler, head and neck grayish; naked skin at edge of eyelid, 

 grayish brown. 

 Anser albifrons gambeli 



Size large: win^ 16.54-18.73 inches (420-475 mm.); bill large; culmen 2.08-2.45 

 (53—62) ; weight 5 lbs. 5 oz. to 7 lbs. 8 oz. (ten specimens) ; coloration in gen- 

 eral darker, neck dark brown, head blackirh; tail feathers, male eighteen, female 

 sixteen ; naked skin at edge of eyelid, yellow or orange. 

 The Tule Goose has been' reported only from the upper Sacramento Valley where, in the 

 vicinity of Butte Creek, it frequents ponds and sloughs surrounded by tules and willows. 

 It flocks separately from its smaller relative, and is often seen only singly or in pairs. Its 

 notes are said to be peculiar. The summer home of the Tule Goose is unknown but is con- 

 jectured to lie in Arctic America somewhere east of Alaska. 



