438 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
diffused and darker blue color, and being also of a smaller size. In the spring Janies 
Bay is frequently crossed by both species at Cape Jones and at Cape Henrietta 
Maria. Occasionally two or three of the ccerulescens may be seen in a flock of the 
Snow Geese on the Albany shore, while two or three of the latter may also be seen 
accompanying full flocks of the ccerulescens on the east main shore. This may be 
accounted for by the similarity of their cry. 
By Indian report the great breeding-ground of the ccerulescens is the country lying 
in the interior from the northeast point of Labrador. Extensive swamps and im- 
passable bogs prevail there, and the Geese incubate on the more solid and driest 
tufts, dispersed over the morasses, safe from the approach of man or any other than 
a winged enemy. 
Mr. Hearne, who wrote a century ago, refers to this as a species distinct from the 
Snow Goose. He speaks of it as being of the same size as the latter, and, like it, 
having bill and legs of a deep flesh-color, but with the entire plumage of a dirty blue, 
resembling old lead. Its skin, stripped of its feathers, is of the same color as that of 
the Suow Goose, and the flesh is equally good eating. This species, he adds, is sel- 
dom seen north of Churchill River, and is not very common at Fort York ; but at 
Fort Albany it was much more plentiful than the Snow Goose. The breeding-places 
of both species, however, were equally unknown, even to the most careful and accu- 
rate observer. Hearne could not ascertain that any of their eggs had ever been 
taken, and their winter haunts had, up to his time, remained wholly undiscovered. 
Birds of this sjtecies were not infrequently observed to lead a flock of the Snow 
Geese ; and as they usually fly in angles, it was sometimes quite a striking thing to 
see a bird of a different color leading the van. The leader is generally the object of 
the first sportsman who fires, as this throws the whole flock into such confusion 
that some of the other hunters frequently kill six or seven at a shot. 
So far as is known, this species does not occur on the Pacific coast ; Dr. Cooper 
has never met with it on any part of that coast. 
According to Mr. Boardman, this Goose occurs occasionally in the neighborhood 
of Calais, where it is even more common than the White-fronted species ( Anser Gam- 
beli). He also informs me that a specimen has been taken at Grand Menan. 
It is quite probable that Mr. Audubon, to whom the existence of this species as 
distinct from the hyperboreus was unknown, may have referred to it as the gray state 
of the Snow Goose, which he mentions as so very common in winter about the 
mouths of the Mississippi and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Texas. 
He also notices the fact that the young remain for several years of a dark-bluish 
color, and mentions that a friend kept one four years without any change being 
noticed. 
the upper parts. The young would appear at first sight to he a distinct species, so different is the pattern 
of coloration. The white of the head, neck, abdomen, and tail-coverts is entirely absent, and the bird is 
of an almost uniform ashy jilumbeous, slightly darker about the head, and lighter on the abdomen. This 
plumage is retained until the second year at least, as many specimens are procured in spring with the 
dark head, neck, and abdomen still immaculate ; and these, I think, are young of the preceding year. At 
the same time specimens are found with the dark feathers about the head well mixed with white, repre- 
senting the second year. In birds of the third year the white predominates ; but not until the fourth or 
fifth year does the plumage become perfect.” 
