124 



BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



The smallest examples seen are the following: 



There are others but slightly larger. Any of the above could stand, in a natural atti- 

 tude, beneath the breast of some of the larger examples of the true Canada Goose. 



This diminutive goose, hardly larger than a Mallard Duck, is 

 rare in Illinois, being chiefly a bird of the western portions of 

 the continent. It is very abundant during winter in California, 

 where it is known as the "Cackling Goose," on account of its 

 peculiar notes. 



Mr. Nelson informs us* that it "is the most common and gen- 

 erally distributed goose found breeding along the Alaskan coast 

 of Bering Sea," and that its breeding grounds extend along 

 the courses of the great rivers far into the interior. "As May 



advances and one by one the, ponds open ....the flocks come 



cleaving their way from afar, and as they draw near their sum- 

 mer homes raise, a chorus of loud notes in a high-pitched tone 

 like the syllable 'IGk,' rapidly repeated, and a reply rises upon 

 all sides, until the whole marsh re-echoes with the din, and the 

 new-comers circle slowly up to the edge of a pond amid a per- 

 fect chorus raised by all the geese about, as if in congratula- 

 tion." 



Mr. Turner sayst that this is the first of the geese to visit the 

 vicinity of St. Michael's, where it arrives about the first of May, 

 or even earlier. He states that it is the commonest of all the 

 geese that abound there, and that while it breeds all along the 

 coast of the Yukon district it is reported, to be rare in the in- 

 terior, where it is replaced by Hutchins's Goose. 



* Beport upon Natural History Collections in Alaska, 1887, p. 86. 

 t Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska, 1886, pp. ISM 41. 



