THE HOME OF THE EMPEROR GOOSE 



L. L. BALES. 



At a point on the Bering sea coast be- 

 tween Goodnews bay and the mouth of 

 the Kuskokwin river, near a smali un- 

 named bay, emperor geese nest and rear 

 their young. At that point there is a 

 wide stretch of tundra, or level land, be- 

 tween the coast and the mountains. The 

 tundra is partly covered with Jakes, 

 sloughs and swamps, and seemingly all 

 the birds in creation come there to breed 

 and cuss and discuss the open door 

 problem. 



When I drew my kyak up on the beach 

 I saw before me cranes, geese, ducks, an 

 army of waders and great numbers of 

 ptarmigan. They knew no fear, though 

 many of them were within a few yards of 

 me. An old sand hill crane had the floor, 

 and if his voice did not carry conviction 

 his actions certainly did. At every whoop 

 he would raise his wings and jump into 

 the air, and as his legs went up his wings 

 came down. This was kept up until 

 another crane drove him away, that he, 

 too, might pass in review before the lady 

 cranes, who seemed interested spectators. 



Some of the lakes on the tundra have 

 muddy margins and shallow waters and 

 are frequented by curlew, long billed snipe 



with short bodies, and long bodied snipe 

 with short bills. Five emperor geese 

 came sailing slowly over within a few 

 yards of my head. They were plentiful 

 there and at Cape Romanoff, about 75 

 miles South of St. Michael's. 



On the tundra in the Goodnews bay 

 country were geese of several varieties, 

 ducks of many kinds, cranes galore, and 

 no end of waders; gray, herring and Bona- 

 parte gulls, forked tailed terns, black bel- 

 lied plover, hawks, owls, shags, albatross, 

 crows and many varieties of warblers. 

 Russet breasted and violet green swal- 

 lows nest along rocky canyons and cliffs; 

 also in deserted native houses. There 

 were also many puffins. The kut-kut-kut- 

 kut-dah-kud-dah-kud-dah of the willow 

 grouse was heard on all sides. It is an 

 ideal spot for a naturalist or a taxidermist. 



At the mission station known as Quin- 

 ha-ha-mute, not many miles from the 

 above described section of coast, I met a 

 Mr. Helmich, a Moravian missionary, and 

 told him I wanted the skins of a pair of 

 emperor geese. I met him 5 weeks later 

 at Nome. He said he had killed a pair 

 of them for me, but they were so fat he 

 was unable to skin them. 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY WM. H. FISHER. 



A LONG SHOT. 



Highly commended in Recreation's 5th An- 

 nual Photo Competition. Made with 

 Rochester lens. 



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