has Ziven it the name of "honker", Canada geese usually weigh from 8 to 12 
pounds, They may be seem along the whole coast in winter, being rare to the 
Ss 
extreme south, however. 
fio! 
Tne snow goose, a little smaller vs an the Canada goose, is white 
with black wing tips. It nests far north and winters on the Middle Atlantic 
coast, being seen as a migrant or straggler, however, voth north and south 
of that section. The main body of these birds spends the winter in the 
sand-dune country along the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, where 
they arrive and from which they depart almost in a body. These geese do 
t spend Apes time in or about the vater, a habit that has protected them 
from gunner Their whole population is a ea in a limited area, 
however, and nee have consequently received complete legal protection ever 
since enactment of the Migratory Bird Tréaty Act in 1918. Geese are grazers, 
cropping to a considerable extent the stems and leave$S and also digging up 
the roots of grasses and sedges. This has enabled the snow goose to stick 
to its sand hills, where it finds food readily obtainable and enjoys a 
great gooree ot safety from hunters. The Canada goose grazes extensively, 
but it spends much time on the water and consumes a great deal of aquatic 
Re ee 
A larger, long-necked, entirely white-feathered, bird that may de 
i 
seen is the whistling swan. I%4 winters chiefly from New Jersey to North 
Carolina, but is occasionally sn in migration northward, on the way te 
and from its Arctic breeding grounds. Most of the swan population of 
eastern North America concentrates on the Middle Atlantic coast in winter, 
a habit that would be fatal if hunting were permitted. Ths birds have ac- 
cordingly been strictly protected since 1918. 
Shore Birds 
About 40 iinds of shore birds, one of which, the willet, has al- 
ready been discussed, occur on the Atlantic coast. ‘The really coastwise . 
? 
species characteristically migrate along the outer beaches and are seldom 
seen in salt marshes even vhough they are so near. The case is an interest— 
ay iS] Seer Aa Ly a 
ing oxample of habitet preference, and as a rule it will be found that the 
beach birds avoid the marsh, and the marsh inhabitants are seen but little 
the peach. In the mersh are most lixely to occur the yellowlegs 
dowltcner, pecsoral sandpiper, and least sandniper. nee two species of 
ie aaa are colored alixe, first in being true to their name, the long 
a yellow, and seecndiy ij S 
moOTe OF 
i sing cess speckled with paler 
ea or pee with dusky below. 
she. Re in proportion 
to the size of ie is 12 to 15 inches long, 
and the lesser wleg Neither bird breeds on the 
Atlantic coast, ot y be se wera kOe ne greater yel- 
lowlegs winters from South ee sca eae ane ; lesser yellowlegs 
entirely south oF the United States. They are et She one and take to 
5 
wing uttering repeated lo 
old hunting days gave them the name of 
mud, ringing, whistling cries, a Habit which in 
Neat “ill erst! ° 
-14- 
