182 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



HUTCHINS'S GOOSE {Branta canadensis hutchinsi). 



Common or local names : Little Gray Goose ; Mud Goose ; Short-necked Goose ; 

 Southern Goose (?)• 



Length. — Averaging about 30 inches. 



AduU and Young. — Almost exactly similar to the Canada Goose but much 

 smaller; occasionally a white spot on chin at base of bill and rarely a 

 white ring on neck just below the black; tail of fourteen to sixteen 

 feathers; the Canada Goose has eighteen to twenty. 



Field Marks. ■ — Like Canada Goose, but much smaller. 



Notes. — Similar to those of Canada Goose. 



Season. — • A rare or casual migrant at the same time as Canada Goose. 



Range. — Western North America, mainly. Breeds on Arctic coasts and 

 Islands from Alaska to northwestern coast of Hudson Bay and north to 

 latitude 70 degrees; winters from British Columbia, Nevada, Colorado 

 and Missouri south to Lower California, Texas and Louisiana; acci- 

 dental in Vera Cruz; rare migrant east of the Mississippi valley region, 

 but recorded on the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia. 



History. 

 This is a smaller western race of the Canada Goose. It is 

 generally regarded as a mere straggler here, and there are no 

 definite records. It is not improbable, however, that it was 

 formerly irregularly common here in times when water-fowl 

 were generally plentiful. Dr. Brewer says that it was abun- 

 dant in Massachusetts in the winter of 1836-37. He states also, 

 in the Water Birds of North America, that at some seasons it 

 has been found not uncommon in the neighborhood of Boston, 

 and that numbers have been brought to market from Cape 

 Cod. As it is so similar to the Canada Goose, and associates 

 with it, it is no doubt usually regarded as merely a small 

 specimen of that species. Some eastern gunners distinguish 

 between the " long-necked Geese " and the " short-necked 

 Geese." Rich states that he examined four of these " short- 

 necked Geese," of which three were undoubtedly Hutchins's 

 Geese. ^ Howe and Allen do not include it in their list of 

 Massachusetts birds. It is included here only to call attention 

 to the fact that it probably once occurred here, and as it is 

 found in nearby States our gunners may find it here. 



' Rich, Walter E.: Feathered Game of the Northeast, 1907, p. 270. 



