brown, white margined ; under parts browTiish-gfay and 
white, sometimes mostly wliiLe. and upper and under tail 
coverts white, or nearlj' so. The bill is pale pmk, with 
white nail and a black line along the margin of each 
mandible. The legs and feet are reddish. 
The young resemble the adult, but have tfie head and 
neck grayish brown. The length of this goose is about 
28 indies ; the wing measures 16. 
Like many others of our inland water fowl, this goose 
often has the plumage of head, neck, breast and bclh 
stained with rusty orange, as if soiled by iron rust. 
The blue goose is an inhabitant of the interior, ranging 
from the Hudson Bay district south along the Mississippi 
Valley to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not found on either 
the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, except that in a few cases 
BLUE GOOSE. 
it has been taken on the extreme northern coast of Mame. 
Little or nothing is known about its breeding habits, 
though the Eskimos and Indians are authority for the 
statement that it breeds in the interior of Labrador; and 
the occurrence of the species in Maine would seem to 
lend color to this story. Moreover, Mr. G. Bamston, in 
his paper on the '"Geese of Hudson Bay," states that in 
the migration the blue goose crosses James Bay, coming 
from the eastern coast, while at the same time the snow 
goose makes its appearance coming from the north. 
This species was long thought to be the young of the 
snow goose, and was so figured by Audubon, appearing 
on the same plate with that species. Occasionally speci- 
mens are found which have considerably more white on 
them than is given in the description above, but on the 
whole, it seems to be very well established that the species 
IS a valid one. The color of the head and upper neck 
varies somewhat with age, the white of these parts grow- 
ing purer and less intermingled with dark feathers as the 
bird grows older. 
This is one of the so-called brant of the Mississippi 
Valley, and is known by a number of names, atnong which 
are blue brant, bald-headed goose, white-headed goose. 
OiV ble-u and bald brant. Being confined to the inland dis- 
tricts of the country, it is shot chiefly on the stubbles or 
the sandbars or in cornfields. 
The Lesser Snow Goose. 
Chen hyperhorea (Pall.). 
The adult is entirely white, except the primaries, or 
quill feathers of the first joint of the wing, which are 
black, changing to ash gray at the base. The bill is 
dark red, with black line along the margin of mandibles ; 
the nail white; the legs and feet red; length, about 25 
inches; wing, 15^2. In the young the head, neck and 
upper parts are pale grayish, with the wing coverts and 
tertiarj' feathers brown, edged with white. The primaries 
are black, and the rest of the upper parts white. The 
bill and feet are dark. 
The true snow goose is a bird of Western distribution, 
reaching from the Mississippi Valley westward to the 
LESSER SNOW GOOSE. 
coast, and as far south as Texas and southern California. 
It, nevertheless, occurs sometimes on the Atlantic coast, 
and I have known of its being killed on Long Island. It 
is perhaps the most abundant goose found in California, 
and occurs in large numbers all over the country from 
the valley of the Mississippi west to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, where it is often associated M'ith the larger snow 
goose, to be described later. On the plains of Montana, 
near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, they are abun- 
dant, and when they first arrive are quite gentle, so that T 
have often ridden on horseback within easy shooting di=;- 
tance of them, although a man on foot would not have 
been permitted to approach so near. 
In the Hudson Bay district both forms of snow goose 
are abundant, and in old times used to form an important 
article of subsistence for the Hudson Bay posts. Of late 
years, however, tbe'y have become so scarce that this 
source of food supply can no longer be depended upon. 
V/hile the flesh of both the snow geese is highly 
esteemed by some people, I have never considered it 
desirable. Usually it has a strong taste of sedge, so pro- 
nounced to be, to some palates, very disagreeable. 
Greater Snow Goose. 
then hyperbor^a nivaUs (Forst.). 
Precisely similar in all respects to the preceding, but 
larger. VVhile the length of C. hypcrboreus is about 25 
inches, with a wing isV^ inches, that of the pVesent 
sub-species is 34 inches, with a wing over 17 inches. The 
two forms are_ often found as.sociated together, and it 
is frequently difficult to determine to which one a bird 
belongs. 
^ The snow geese differ from many of their fellows in 
feeding largely on the land. They walk about much as 
do the domestic geese, nipping the grass and such other 
herbs as please their taste, and resort to the water chiefly 
for resting. 
The nest of the greater snow goose, as descrilxid by 
Mr. Macfarlane, consists merely of a hollow or dt;pres- 
sion in the soil, incd with down and feathers. The eggs 
are largo and are yellowish-white. 
All these interior geese, such as the blue goose and all 
the white geese, are known among the Indians and Hud- 
son Bay people of the North as wavies, the blue goo.se 
being called the blue wavy, the snow goose the large 
wavy, and Ross' goose the small wavy. The larger snow 
goose is common in Alaska. They do not breed in the 
neighborhood of the Yukon, but proceed further north to 
rear their young. The fall migration takes place in 
September, and by the end of that month all the snow 
geese are gone. In summer they proceed as far south as 
Texas and Cuba, where thty are reported as abundant. 
As already remarked, snow geese are .seen every win- 
ter in the mouth of the Delaware, and also on the coasst 
of North Carolina, about Currituck Sound. 
The .spectacle of a flock of these white geese flying is 
a very beautiful one. Sometimes they perform remark- 
able evohitions on the wing, and if seen at a distance 
look like so many snowflakes being whirled hither and 
thither by the wind. Scarcely less beautiful is the sight 
which may often be seen in the Rocky Mountain region 
during the migration. As one rides along under the 
warm October sun he maj- have his attention attracted by 
sweet, faint, distant sounds, interrupted at first, and then 
GREATER SNOW GOOSE. 
gradually coming nearer and clearer, yet still only a mur- 
mur; the rider hears it from above, before, behind and 
all around, faintly sweet and musically discordant, always 
softened hy distance, like the sound of far-off harps, of 
sweet bells jangled, of the distant baying of meilow-voiced 
hounds. Looking up into the sky above him be .='Pes the 
serene blue far on high flecked with tiny White moving 
shapes, which seem like snowflakes drifting lazily across 
the azure sky ; and down to earth, falling, falling," falling, 
come the musical cries of the little wavies that are 
journeying toward the south land. They pass, and slowly 
the sounds grow faint and fainter, and the listener thinks 
involuntarily of the well-known hues: 
Oh, harkt oh, hear! how thin and clear, 
.And thinner, clearer, further going! 
Oh, sweet and far from cliff and .tear 
The horns of E-Ifland faintly blowing 1 
These birds and Ross' geese often stop to rest and 
feed on the Montana plains during their migration, I 
have more than once killed them with a rifle at St. 
Mar>''s Lake in the late avitumn, and have started them 
from the little prairie pools, where they were feeding on 
a small farinaceous tUber which is the root of some 
water plant. 
Ross' Goose. 
Chen Rossii (Baird). 
_ In color the plumage of the adult Ross' goose is pre- 
cisely similar both in adult and yoimg to that of the larger 
snow geese: that is, pure white, except for the primaries, 
which are black, becoming ash color at the base. The bill 
and feet are red ; the nail white. The base of the bill is 
usually covered with wart-like excrescences, or is wrinkled 
and roiighened- There is great difference in the bills, no 
two being just alike. The young are white, tinged with 
gray, the center of the feathers often being dark colored. 
Ross' goose is the smallest of our geese, being about 
the size of the mallard duck, and weighing from 2'% to 3 
pounds. At a distance it is hard to distinguish it frorn 
the snow goose, but the voice i» shriller, and the birds 
rise on the wing more readily than most of the geese, 
.springing into the air and going upward more like mal- 
lards or black ducks than like geese. The range of this 
goose is given in the books as Arctic America in sum- 
mer, and the Pacific coast to southern California in win- 
tet ; but, as a matter of fact, not vejfy mtjch is Icnown ah©tit 
it. It has been takeii quite frequently in California ill 
winter, but is nowhere abundant 
In northwestern Montana it is .a common fall migrant, 
coming rather later than the snow goose, and being 
abundant on the heads of Milk River, Cutbank and Two 
Medicine Lodge creeks through October and the first half 
of November. A few years ago Mr. Jos. Kipp cap- 
tured and partially domesticated there no less than nine of 
these birds, but unfortunately, before the winter was over, 
all of them were killed by the dogs 
I have seen it there in (locks of from seventy-five to 
ROSS' GOOSE, 
one hundred, and have known of sixteen birds falling to 
the two discharges of a double-barreled gun. The flesh 
of tho.se that I have eaten was delicious. 
Dr, J, C. Merrill reports this goose as not uncom- 
nmn in the vicinity of Fort Missoula, and Captain Bendire 
has taken it in eastern Oregon in the spring. It is not a 
bird that is likely to be met with by sportsmen except in 
the localities referred to, and there it is usually shot by 
being approached under cover.. 
The Maine Woods. 
Boston, Sept. 16. — Reports come by mail and telegraph 
that the issuing of licenses to shoot deer in Maine has 
been resumed. A good rain on Tuesday over the greater 
part of the wooded section of that State put the danger of 
forest fires out of the way till the woods become dry 
again, and licenses arc being obtained. Moosehead reports 
say that a large number of deer are being killed not far 
from Kineo. Mr, J. G, Plaisted, of Boston, shot one there 
last week. Some of the Moosehead guides are very 
indignant at the idea that the recent forest fires, or any 
fires, in fact, should be attributed to their carelessness, or 
to .sportsmen in their charge. A guide greatly dread's a 
fire. "They have a holy dread of it," says a sportsman 
who has spent many seasons in the Mame woods. ''They 
not only fear the consequences, but they fear the disgrace. 
They are fully aware that every section burned over is 
ruined for lumbering, as well as a sporting region, and 
they have a great interest in both. Most of the guides 
work at lumbering in the winter." 
In the Rangeley region the deer hunters are at work 
again, since the rain has permitted the further issuing of 
shooting licenses, and made it legal to shoot under those 
issued before the celebr.ated order to cea.se shooting till 
atter the woods were again in shape to be visited by 
.sportsmen and guides. It seems that the order did at- 
tempt to stop shooting under licenses already issued, 
although how it could be expected to reach hunters camped 
m the woods, several miles from either mail or telegraph, 
It doth not j'et appear. A gentleman returned to Boston 
Saturday from a fishing trip to a well-known Rangeley 
sporting region says that he does not believe that the 
least attention was paid to the order to .stop shooting. It 
is true that the hunters did not openly go out with their 
rifles, but they were away from camp, and rifle reports 
were to be heard any day. He says that three or four 
hunters and a guide or two go out under the cover of one 
license, and the hunter to whom the licen.se is made out of 
course, claims the deer. .A. letter from the section of the 
Upper Dam says that a few big trout have come into the 
Pool, and the fishermen are after them. The writer 
counted ten boats fishing the Pool on Thursdav, w'th four 
persons fishing from the Aprons. Since the 'stopping of 
September licenses it is hard to find any one there who 
ever saw a deer, though "caucusses in the bushes" were 
common up to that date. Still, mvsterious sounds of guns 
were heard from the woods most any day. Mr. Eugene 
Lynch, of Boston, who has been at the Dain. with Mrs 
Lynch? has not yet taken his deer. Mrs. Lynch is under- 
stood to have brought down a buck last year. Mr. and 
Mrs. M, H, Curley, of Boston, arc also in companv with 
the Lynches. Mr, Curley likes the rod better than the 
gun. and has succeeded in raking several fine trout A 
Montgomery, of New York, was one of the first to bring 
in a buck, at Mountain View. The first deer of the 
Reason, killed in the Dead River region, was taken on 
Saturday Sept. 8, by a New York gentleman stopping 
at Safford s. The serious fire at Carrv Ponds has been 
put out. Lumbermen were sent up from the towns below 
and soon had the fire in check. K very large hunting, 
fishing and timber region was threatened. The rain has 
stopped the fire in the Saddleback woods. 
The Massachusetts season on partridges and woodcock 
does not open till Oct. i this year, instead of on Sept, 15 
as formerly. It is understood that a thorough enforce- 
ment of the game laws in this State is to be pushed this 
year. Quail may also be legally shot on and after Oct. r. 
But under the new law, partridges and woodcock cannot 
be sold in the market?. J. Riissell Reed has left Boston 
with his dogs for a few weeks' bird shoot-ng in Maine 
The law on partridges in that State was off Sept. 15, Re- 
ports concerning the quantit}^' of partridges there are very 
conflicting. Newspaper correspondents, interested in 
hoominif certain seetions.. say that they are "very a(iqa-. 
