THE BLUE GOOSE. CHEN COERULESCENS. 



B. PEABODY. 



Once in a while, in the middle North- 

 west, a goose is taken which the local 

 sportsman calls " a cross between a honker 

 and a wavy," but which the initiated know 

 belongs to a well-defined race, distantly re- 

 lated to the snow goose, but cousin to the 

 Canada goose. With the beak of the snow 

 goose, he bears the breast plumage and 

 physique of the white-fronted goose. In 

 the Mississippi valley, this goose is prob- 

 ably very common, during the migrations, 

 but the fact that it seems seldom to stop for 

 food has given it a reputation for rarity. 

 Yet large flocks of the smaller Northward 

 moving geese, though showing white 

 against the sky, quite probably belong to 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY P. B. PEABODY. 



BLUE GEESE. 



this race. An occasional specimen will be 

 found in flocks of snow geese, while con- 

 versely, one often sees a few snow geese in 

 the large flocks of C. coerulescen>. 



The 3 specimens here figured were shot 

 in March, '98, at Donaldson, Minn., when 

 the snow line near Winnipeg kepi quanti- 

 ties of all the passing varieties of geese this 

 side the international boundary line. The 



young bird, which is a " restoration." 

 the head having been cut off, but rescued, 

 will be noted, even in the reproduction of 

 the photograph, for the curious mottling 

 of the head, a sprinkling of browns and 

 whites and grays, and of that peculiar saff- 

 ron-colored suffusion which occurs, irregu- 

 larly, in the head and neck markings of all 

 the races of whitish geese. 



My first acquaintance with the blue 

 goose involved a bit of shooting too novel 

 and exciting to be lost to lovers of good 

 sport. On a blustery October day. my 

 neighbor, Charley, and I took the train, 

 at 4 p.m., for a side track 14 miles from 

 home, in Southern Minnesota. A small 

 rushy lake lay to the Southeast of the sta- 

 tion, and the wind blew half a gale from 

 the same quarter. 



We were crossing a strip of close mown 

 meadow and had nearly reached the lake 

 margin, when I saw approaching from the 

 Northwest, against the wind, a band of 7 

 geese, flying heavily and low. I had never 

 seen such geese before. 



" Quick. Charley," I whispered. *' down 

 on your belly, and hand me 2 goose 

 charges." We lay flat, crowding the 

 heavy shells home, while the geese came 

 slowly on, not over 10 feet high, and 

 straight toward us. 



" Let them come as close as they will." 

 I whispered. *' and as they turn, we will 

 jump up and let them have it." 



We had no covert nor protection but our 

 dead-grass suits, yet they came on steadily. 

 When they were about 100 yards away, they 

 turned, with a graceful impulse, and swept 

 onward, without seeming to notice us. In 

 a flash 4 charges rang out, my own 2 shots 

 being placed at least 8 feet ahead of the 

 leaders. 



At the concentrated fusillade, the birds 

 gave no sign; but kept straight on. Yet 

 as they rose, a little. 100 feet from where 

 tlie shot passed by them, one bird veered 

 sharply to the right The flock turned with 

 it. and back the birds went, on the wings 

 of the wind, along the back track. 



They had traversed all <>i" 70 rod. before 

 the hit bird, which proved to have been 

 shot through and through, with several 

 pellet-, reeled suddenly and came down 

 with a. whack that was music to the ear- of 

 the hunters. 



461 



