Birds. 



7835 



might for the ring or race. After this necessary preparation the flocks 

 are ready to take advantage of the first north or north-west wind that 

 blows, and, when that sets in, in less than twenty-four hours the coast 

 that had been covered patch-like by their whitened squadrons, and 

 wildly resonant with their petulant and incessant calls, is silent as the 

 grave — a deserted, barren and frozen shore. 



The friendly intercourse that exists between these geese and the 

 blue wavies (A. ccerulescens) has induced some to suppose that they 

 were merely varieties, which is a mistake. The young white wavies 

 arrive from the north with their parents without mixture of other 

 geese, and they have nearly the same white garb as the old birds, but 

 with their heads of a dirty reddish tinge, exactly as if they had been 

 rubbed by the hair-dresser with the red rust of iron ; and the bill, as 

 is always the case with the young of the feathered race, is tender, soft 

 and compressible. On the other hand, the A. caeruleseens comes 

 down upon the east main coast also in perfectly distinct flocks, the 

 young of a more diffused blue colour, as well as being of smaller size. 

 The full-grown blue wavy is besides somewhat larger than the white, 

 and has its flesh most decidedly of a much fairer hue. In the spring 

 James's Bay is frequently crossed by both species as far north as Capes 

 James and Henrietta Marie, and occasionally two or three of the blue 

 may be observed in a large flock of the white on the Albany or west 

 shore. White again are seen mixed up to a certain extent with the 

 full flocks of blue on the Eastmain. This is not singular, their cry 

 being almost the same and their habits similar, and they are, it must 

 be allowed, closely allied species. 



According to Indian report, a great breeding-ground for the blue 

 wavy is the country lying in the interior of the north-east point of 

 Labrador, Cape Dudley Digges. Extensive swamps and impassable 

 bogs prevail there ; and the geese incubate on the more solid and the 

 driest tufts dispersed over the morass, safe from the approach of man, 

 or any other than a winged enemy. Neither fox nor wolverine can 

 penetrate to them, nor pass over the deceitful quick bogs to disturb 

 their quiet. 



Th'e whitefronted goose (A. Gambelii), called by some the laughing- 

 goose, is seldom seen in the southern part of Hudson's Bay. At York 

 Factory they are less rare, but at Churchill frequent enough. I am 

 disposed to believe that this goose is more an inhabitant of Central 

 and Western America during the winter months than of the eastern 

 board. Proceeding northwards, therefore, in the end of April and 

 early part of May it comes upon the coast of Hudson's Bay towards 



