The Black Brant {Branta nigricans) 



By Joseph Grinnell 



Since earliest spring-time they have sought 



The utmost northern isle and shoal ; 

 Their chosen haunt and breeding-ground, 



In latitudes beneath the Pole. 

 The wild-geese and the brent-geese there 



In swamps impervious build their nest 

 (So northern fishermen declare), 



Where none may reach them to molest. 



— Isaac McLellan, ''Coot Shooting/' 



The Black Brant, or the Brant or Brent Goose, as it is frequently called, is 

 not the brant of the Atlantic coast, but a Western bird ranging from Lower Cali- 

 fornia to the Arctic region of North America. On the Atlantic coast it appears 

 only as a casual visitor and it is not found in the interior. It makes its summer 

 home in very high latitudes and on the Pacific coast the southern limit of its 

 nesting range seems to be about the latitude of the mouth of the river Yukon. 

 Dr. William H. Dall has said that in the spring it comes in immense flocks to the 

 sea coast of Alaska and he found the crop of one of these birds to be full of small 

 crustaceans, though, as a rule, it partakes only of a vegetable diet, feeding chiefly 

 upon eel-grass. 



During the time of low tide the Brant feeds constantly, tearing up the plants 

 by the roots from the muddy flats. Unlike the sea ducks, it does not dive for its 

 food and it is said that it will never dive except when wounded. It passes the 

 night hours floating on deep water in the open sea. It is a noisy bird and quarrel- 

 some with its kind. 



Its note is "hoarse and honking," and when a flock gabbles in company, as 

 they often do when feeding, the sound produced cannot be described better than 

 to call it a perfect din. 



It is said that the nest of the Black Brant is usually situated in a depression 

 in the ground and consists of grasses and moss lined with down. 



Both the Black Brant and its eastern relative (Branta bernicla) are some- 

 times called "barnacle geese." This name is said to have had its origin in a fable 

 which narrates that they were developed out of barnacles attached to wood in the 

 sea. Dr. Coues says that the name Brant means burnt, and that it was given to 

 these birds because of their dark color which suggests charring. 



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