and is much more feeble, consisting of a single weak chirp. The Sialia artico 

 was also never heard to give utterance to anything resembling the lovely spring 

 warbling of the Sialia sialis." 



Of this beautiful bird, Mrs. Wheelock has written: "No words can describe 

 his brilliancy in the breeding season, as he flies through the sunny clearings of 

 the higher Sierra Nevada, or sits like a bright blue flower against the dark- green 

 of the pines." 



The White-Fronted Goose (Anser alHfrons gambeli) 



By A. C. Bent 



Length: 27 inches. 



Range: North America, rare on the Atlantic coast, common on the Pacific 

 slope and in the interior ; nests in the Far North. 



The White-fronted Goose has an extensive range which includes North 

 America, though it is rare on the Atlantic coast. In the interior and on the 

 Pacific slope it is common, excepting during the nesting season, for it breeds 

 only in the Far North. This species winters in the United States, southward 

 to Mexico and Cuba. As a winter resident it is much more abundant on the 

 Great Plains and westward to the Pacific coast. In the Mississippi Valley and 

 eastward, it is more common as a migrant, and in most localities of this region 

 it is rare in winter. ' In Illinois it appears in its fall migrations during October 

 or early in November, and in the spring it returns during March and April. In 

 those localities where it only appears as a migrant, its peculiar and rapidly 

 repeated notes, JVaPi, zvah, wah, wah, zmh, may well remind one of the words 

 of Celia Thaxter in her poem ''Wild Geese" : 



Hark, what a clamor goes winging through the sky ! 

 Look, children ! Listen to the sound so wild and high ! 

 Like a peal of broken bells, — Kling, kling, kling, — 

 Far and high the wild geese cry, "Spring! it is Spring!" 



The loud, harsh and quite trumpetlike notes of this goose have given to it 

 the name Laughing Goose. But it also bears many other names. As it shows 

 a special liking for low prairies, it is frequently called the Prairie Brant or Goose. 

 Because of the coloration of its plumage it is often called Gray Brant, Speckled 

 Brant or Goose and Yellow-legged Goose. It bears several other popular names, 

 but the ones already mentioned are those more commonly used. During their 

 migrations, they often fly so high that they appear as mere dots against the 

 clouds or sky. They, however, spend most of their time upon the land, for it is 

 there that they obtain their food. When flying in large flocks this interesting 

 species, like the Canada Goose and the Snow Goose, with which it is frequently 

 associated, flies in a wedge-shaped company led by one whose ringing call notes 



580 



