CANADA GOOSE 223 



patches speckled with black. Natal plumage: Top of head old gold; forehead, 

 sides of head, throat, and whole neck, deep straw yellow; back old gold, with 

 patch of straw yellow behind each wing; wings and tail, light brownish olive; 

 lower surface of body dull cream color. 



Marks for field identification — Very large size (largest of all our geese), 

 black head, neck, bill and feet, white cheek patches, and uniform appearing 

 gray body. Distinguished from Hutchins and Cackling geese by larger size, and 

 from Sea Brant by presence of white patches on cheeks (see figs. 32-37). 

 Recognizable in flight by abruptly black head and neck, gray body plumage, 

 loud trumpet-like "honks," and slow wing strokes. 



Voice — A hoarse, sonorous honlc. 



Nest — Usually in swampy situation, but on dry ground, more rarely on a 

 stump or in a tree in an old nest of some other bird; constructed of twigs, 

 weeds, grasses or reeds, with abundant lining of down. 



Eggs — 5 to 7, ovate to elongate ovate in shape, measuring in inches 3.06 to 

 3.71 by 2.15 to 2.34 (in millimeters, 77.5 to 94.2 by 54.6 to 59.4), and averaging 

 3.37 by 2.25 (85.6 by 57.2) (Ray, 1912a, pp. 68-69) ; color dull yellowish white. 



General distribution — Interior North America. Breeds from limit of trees 

 in lower Yukon Valley, Alaska, east to northwestern Mackenzie and central 

 Keewatin, and thence south to Indiana, northern Colorado, and north-central 

 California. Winters from southern British Columbia, southern Colorado, south- 

 ern Wisconsin and New Jersey south to southern California, Texas and Florida 

 (modified from A. O. U. Check-list, 1910, p. 86). 



Distribution in California — Common winter visitant throughout the low- 

 lands but chiefly to interior valleys; southernmost record station, San Diego 

 (Belding, 1892a, p 100). Fairly common in summer in lake region north and 

 east of the Sierra Nevada. Has been recorded as breeding at the following 

 localities: Lower Klamath Lake (Newberry, 1857, p. 100; H. C. Bryant, 1914e, 

 p. 232); Eagle Lake (Sheldon, 1907, p. 187); Honey Lake (Cady, MS); and 

 Lake Tahoe (Belding, loe. cit.; Kay, 1912o, p. 72). 



The migrating V-shaped flocks of the Canada Goose, or Honker, 

 together with the sonorous call-notes while on the wing, are familiar 

 to almost everyone, so that it is safe to say that this is the best known 

 of American geese. It is the most widely distributed species in North 

 America and is the one which is here most often brought into domesti- 

 cation. Of the geese occurring in California it is the largest, but at the 

 present time is least common of all, save for the rare Emperor Goose. 

 In winter it is found in suitable localities almost throughout the state, 

 but those birds which remain for the summer to nest within our bound- 

 aries betake themselves to the vicinity of the large lakes in northeastern 

 California east of the Sierra-Cascade divide. 



The Canada Goose is about the last of the wintering geese to arrive 

 •in California. It seldom puts in an appearance before the middle of 

 November, or at least until unfavorable conditions drive it south from 

 its breeding home. Belding (1892a, p. 100) noted the first birds of 

 this species in the Stockton market on November 11 (1880), and 

 November 23 (1881). In 1896 the first flock seen by him at Stockton 

 was observed on November 27. At Gridley, Butte County, this goose 



