The Brant 



Range of B. b. nigricans. — Western North America and eastern Asia. Breeds 

 along the Arctic Coast and on adjacent islands. In America, breeds from about 

 Longitude 100° West, to Point Barrow, Alaska, and northerly. Winters from coasts 

 of British Columbia south to Scammons Lagoon, Lower California, and sparingly 

 in the interior of Oregon, Nevada, and California. Casual on the Atlantic Coast. 



Distribution in California. — Common migrant off shore and fairly common 

 winter resident on Tomales and Humboldt bays; formerly much more abundant; 

 wintering at various coastwise stations to San Diego Bay. Of rare occurrence in the 

 interior. 



Authorities — Gambel (Bernicle brenta), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, 

 i., 1849, p. 225 (Calif.) ;Belding, Zoe, vol. iii., 1892, p. 101 (occurrence in Calif.; dates of 

 arrival and departure, etc.). 



"SEA" is a desirable addition to the common name of Branta bemicla 

 nigricans, for the Black Sea Brant is never found, save by accident, away 

 from salt water. Uinlike all other California geese, it has no use for fallen 

 wheat, and it keeps to the coast-line, both in winter and during migra- 

 tions. Kelp-beds are favorite places of resort, and especially those which 

 command the entrance of shallow bays where the sea wrack (Zostera 

 marina) abounds. The Sea Brants come in with the tide and feed heartily 

 on this grass, together, no doubt, with such incidental shell-fish as it may 

 contain. They obtain this food both by tipping and diving, and when 

 their appetites are satisfied, they gabble and float, or engage in friendly 

 squabbles and mild pursuits. On the ebb of the tide they retire to the 

 kelp-beds, or even to the open sea, to "raft" and doze, until hunger drives 

 them in again. Occasionally the Sea Brant ventures ashore, especially 

 on a low sand-spit where a thorough command of the middle distances 

 may be had; for the Black Brant is exceedingly wary. Dire experience 

 has taught him the fickleness of humankind, and when it comes to saving 

 his skin, he is no "goose." While the very difficulty of the task may well 

 appeal to an ardent sportsman, it is generally conceded that the pursuit 

 of Black Brants no longer "pays." They are no such "great shakes," 

 anyway. An exaggerated use of their long wings, as the birds get under 

 way, gives the beholder the impression of great weight, an impression 

 which is not sustained in the hand, when the bird is seen to be disappoint- 

 ingly light, — all feathers, in fact, as compared with the chunky Scoter, 

 which does not equal it in extent of wing by a foot or more. 



From the esthetic point of view, the Black Sea Brant makes two 

 appeals to the lover of nature. The mellow notes, cronk cronk cronk, 

 which the birds frequently emit whether in flight or at rest, have the 

 authentic thrill of the wild. They may be madrone trees, or even somber 

 redwoods, which form the immediate background, but when one hears 

 mellow croaking, as of a thousand bull-frogs, welling up from the bay 

 front, he is immediately transported to the Arctic tundra, and in imagina- 



1870 



