302 



KOETH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



the eastern ]3art of the region. Its breeding grounds remain un- 

 known. 



In the spring of 1901 this species was not identified with certainty 

 among the snow geese seen, but the remains of one killed earlier in 

 the season, or during the previous autumn, were seen on the Quatre 

 Fourches marsh, 'May 24. 



In 1903, on May 31 and June 1, we saw numbers on the lower 

 Athabaska and took a male on the latter date. Upward of 1,000 indi- 

 viduals were seen at the mouth of the river on June 2, and many 

 flocks were leaving the lake for the north on June 3. The species 

 was last noted on the morning of June 4, when several flocks, aggre- 

 gating about 200 individuals, were seen leaving the marshes in a 

 northeasterly direction. They were about the last migrants of the 

 season. I was informed by J. W. Mills that he has known of two 

 being shot at Willow River, near Fort Providence. 



This species, the ' horned wavey ' of Hearne, was first formally 

 described by Cassin from specimens sent to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion from Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, by Kennicott.^ Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway state that a large number were taken at Fort 

 Resolution in May, 1860, by Kennicott, and in May, 1863 and 1865, 

 by J. Lockhart. A specimen (Xo. 44029) taken by the latter in 

 May, 1865, is still in the Xational Museum. MacFarlane records one 

 shot May 25, 1865, at Fort Anderson, where it was the least abundant 

 of the genus. He never discovered its nesting ground, and it was 

 said by the Eskimo not to breed at Liverpool Bay.^ Russell noted 

 flocks flying southward at Yellowknife Bay September 1, 1893.^ 

 Hanbury records two individuals passing northward near the base of 

 Kent Peninsula on June 2, 1902.<^ 



Anser albifrons gambeli Hartl. American White- fronted Goose. 



This is the ' gTay wavey ' of the inhabitants. It is reputed to be 

 the shj^est and most difficult of all the geese to call, and is said to 

 be almost invariably in good condition. Though the bulk of the 

 species nest on the Barren Grounds, a few remain to breed in the 

 northern part of the wooded countrj^ 



A flock was seen overhead while we were descending the Athabaska, 

 about 50 miles below Fort McMurray, May 15, 1901. 



In 1903 we failed to see this species in the spring, and noted the 

 bird first on Great Bear Lake, about 20 miles east of its outlet, on 

 September 15. Large flocks passed southward over our camp at 

 Fort Franklin on September 18 and 19. We last noted it on the 



«Proc. Acad. Xat. Sci., Phila., [XIII], p. 72, 1861. 

 » Proc. U. S. Xat. Miis, XIV. p. 423, 1891. 

 c Expl. in Far Xorth, p. 81, 1898. 



^ Sport ana Travel in Xortliland of Canada, p. 157, 1904. 



