The Ross Snow Goose 



Another interesting thing about this bird is that California valleys 

 alone furnish good enough feeding grounds to lure him as a winter tourist, 

 for in no other state is the Ross Goose found during the middle of the 

 winter. The bird has been taken as far south in California as Orange 

 County, but probably does not go as far south as Mexico. 



The Ross Goose also stands out among the galaxy of California geese 

 because of its remarkable migration route. According to W. W. Cooke, 

 our greatest student of migration, the Ross Goose selects the following 

 route: On leaving the Arctic islands north of the Mackenzie River in the 

 fall, it travels up the valleys of the Mackenzie and Athabasca rivers in 

 company with hundreds of thousands of other waterfowl bound for their 

 winter homes on the coasts of the eastern United States and the Gulf of 

 Mexico. But on reaching the northern boundary of the United States it 

 parts company with its traveling companions, and while they continue 

 south and southeast along the usual migration route, it turns to the south- 

 west, crosses the main range of the Rocky Mountains and the high Sierras, 



Photo by F. H. Holmes 

 ROSS SNOW GEESE 



FLOCK ALSO CONTAINS THREE OTHER SPECIES. NOTE THE MUCH SMALLER BILL OF THE ROSS GOOSE 



AS contrasted with C. hyperboreus. 



1851 



