THE BRAXT. 



ALLAN BROOKS. 



The American sportsmen's nomenclature 

 teems with misnomers, but in no case are 

 they so glaring as in that of the geese 

 generally called brant. On the Atlantic and 

 Pacific sea coasts real brant are found and 

 are known by their correct names ; but ovef 

 the rest of the continent every other spe- 

 cies of small goose has the name misapplied 

 to it. The alleged brant of the Southern 

 interior of British Columbia and Alaska is 

 either the cackling goose or Hutchin's 

 goose, both of which are miniatures of the 

 Canada goose. On some parts of the North- 

 west plains the various species of snow 

 geese or wavies are called brant or white 

 brant. By far the worst misnomer is the 

 so called brant of the Mississippi valley; 

 and Westward. This is the white-fronted 

 goose, the only true Anser found in Amer- 

 ica. In time these misnomers will dispute 

 the title with the original owners just as in 

 the case of the mule and blacktail deer. Of 

 the true brant, or, as they are known in the 

 British Isles, brent, the common brent 

 Branta bernicla, is a bird of wide distri- 

 bution, being found throughout the North- 

 ern portion of the Northern hemisphere. 

 On the Pacific coast it is rare, though I 

 have shot typical specimens. There it is 

 replaced by the black brant, Branta nigri- 

 cans. 



In the black brant the white collar is con- 

 tinuous around the front of the neck ; in 

 the Eastern species it is interrupted in front 

 by the black of the neck. The under parts 

 are also blacker in the Western species, 

 without a sharp contrast in the color of the 

 breast and neck. Old males of bernicla are 

 sometimes nearly as dark as nigricans. 



Both species of brant can always be dis- 

 tinguished from the cackling and Hutchin's 

 goose by the position of the white patch 

 on the neck. In the brant this is always 

 on the upper part of the neck. The other 

 geese, like the Canada goose, have the 

 white on the cheeks only. 



The brant has many congeners. One 

 of the closest is the barnacle goose, Branta 

 leucopsis, of Northern Europe, which is 

 lighter colored, with the forehead and sides 

 of the head white. Another, and the hand- 

 somest of all geese, is the red breasted 

 brant of Northern Asia. The Canadian 

 goose and its smaller relatives are also in- 

 cluded in the genus Branta.. These are 

 more inland birds, true brant. Both nigri- 

 cans and bernicla are practically confined 

 to the sea coasts, rarely being found inland. 

 They are the neatest and most graceful 



of geese, corresponding" to the teal among 

 ducks. Their flight is rapid and at times 

 almost as erratic as a teal's. On land they 

 walk gracefully and are capable of running 

 at great speed. On the water they are 

 among the most graceful of water fowl, 

 floating lightly, the tail elevated, the white 

 flank feathers lapped well over the wings, 

 making them show more white than black 

 on the water. They swim buoyantly, pick- 

 ing- up their food with dainty little pecks. 

 Occasionally they feed in shallow water. 

 They then tin up just as a mallard does. 

 These brant never dive for their food, but 

 when wounded and pursued dive deep and 

 far, using their wings under water just as 

 in flight. When one wing is broken close 

 to the body they are unable to dive far. 



Their food is principally eel grass, zos- 

 tera marina.. When this is plentiful they 

 get enormously fat, and are then the best 

 of all water fowl for the table. Later 

 when this grass is uprooted by the winter 

 storms the brant get thin and lose all 

 their fine flavor. They then feed on vari- 

 ous grasses and algse in shallow water. 



In the spring herring deposit their spawn 

 on the eel_ grass, algse, etc. Brant feed on 

 this voraciously and become so rank as to 

 be unfit to eat. 



The note of the Canada goose is a grat- 

 ing or rolling cry in various keys, according 

 to the age of the bird, and might be syl- 

 labized as crank or cronk. It has various 

 modulations of expression. 



Brant usually go in flocks of 5 to 7, 

 the 2 parent birds and their last year's 

 brood. Later in the season they get to- 

 gether in huge flocks. 



The size is variable, large old males 

 weighing 5 pounds. The young are much 

 smaller, sometimes no larger than a small 

 mallard. The young of the year can be 

 recognized by the light colored tipping to 

 the wing coverts and back feathers. 



The breeding ground of the Canada goose 

 is the most Northern of that of all geese, 

 their summer home being the most North- 

 ern and inhospitable islands of the Arctic 

 ocean, and along the extreme Northern rim 

 of this continent. 



The color of the iris is brown in both 

 species, black bill, feet blackish shaded with 

 olive on the tarsi. The illustration repre- 

 sents typical specimens of both species. 

 Both are drawn from adults, the black 

 brant, on the left, being a male, the Eastern 

 species a female. 



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