The Canada Geese 



ears; but the old hand knows that it is about time to put up the gun and 

 to study natural history instead. 



Fortunately, opportunity still remains, even in California, for those 

 who wish to study the wild goose at home. The Honker still breeds in 

 very limited numbers, as far south as Lake Tahoe. It has also been 

 reported within a dozen years both at Eagle Lake and at Lower Klamath ; 

 and in 1912 I found it breeding at Goose Lake, in Modoc County. It is 

 unquestionably the elevation of these lakes (Goose Lake is nearly a mile 

 high) which makes them a congenial home for a species which ordinarily 

 nests much farther north. 



Canada Geese always nest in fair proximity to water; but the precise 

 nature of the nest support, or of the materials (if any) used in construction, 

 vary with local conditions. The site may be an old muskrat's nest, or 

 a bed of tumble-down tules in a swamp, or a low-lying grassy island in a 

 lake; or it may be a rocky islet, a rough hillside, or even (in the North, at 

 least) an ancient nest of Buzzard or Osprey. A few sticks and grasses 

 may serve to hold the eggs in place on a flat stone, or a tasty pyramid 

 of grasses and soft trash may support from four to seven dingy white 

 or dull buffy eggs, deeply imbedded in down. Some eggs collected 

 by the Treganzas in the vicinity of Salt Lake are glistening white. Ray 

 describes those obtained at Tahoe 1 as dull yellowish white, but I have 

 seen northern eggs, near hatching, which were nothing less than dull 

 greenish buff. 



The sitting goose remains at her post for four weeks, and she is 

 attended by the gander, who maintains a constant vigil at her side and 

 accompanies her during the foraging trips. The goslings, when hatched, 

 are covered with down of a bright grass-green hue, mottled with a shade 

 of olive. They swim from the shell ; and by the second or third day they 

 have attained such robustness that their capture by hand from a boat 

 is a very difficult matter. Hiding is the long suit of the mother goose 

 when in charge of a tender brood; and if surprised at such a time in open 

 water, she manages to "scootch" down and hug her feathers close until she 

 does not appear above one-third her normal size. If the ruse is discovered 

 she flees reluctantly and summons her mate, who joins his anxious cries 

 with hers, Honka-honka-honka! The Geese, while fairly solitary as to the 

 positions of the nests themselves, begin to reassemble as soon as their 

 broods are hatched. Under the threat of a common danger the local clan 

 musters, and youngsters of every age join their mothers in a raft which 

 moves off over the water as a unit. It was such a flock of thirty-five mem- 

 bers which we saw on the 10th of June on Goose Lake, although the 

 youngsters at the time were none of them over half grown. 



1 Milton S. Ray in The Condor, Vol. XIV., March 1012, p. 68. 

 1862 



