452 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS - ANSERES. 
in large flocks, but were more often met with singly or in small parties. A few 
remained to breed, in company with the Bernicla nigricans, but by far the greater 
number went farther north. 
Dr. J. C. Merrill mentions this species as the first to arrive in the autumn in 
Southwestern Texas, usually about the first week in October. Comparatively few 
remained throughout the winter, but during the migrations it was only exceeded in 
numbers by the Snow Goose. In their spring migrations he has seen flocks of at 
least two hundred pass over Fort Brown as late as the 18th of April. 
Dr. Cooper mentions it as very abundant during the wet season in California, 
some arriving as early as the second week in September, frequenting the plains 
almost exclusively, rarely appearing on the sea-shore or in the water. Of all the 
Geese that are found in California, this is regarded as by far the best for the table ; 
and near the Columbia River it was found a very easy bird to shoot. The hunter 
could walk in the long grass where the birds were, and shoot them down as they rose 
singly or in pairs. In California they are more suspicious and wild, and it requires 
considerable artifice to obtain a shot at them. This is done by means of brush 
hiding-places, over which they fly, or by driving an ox that has been trained for the 
purpose toward them, keeping concealed behind it until close to the birds. In this 
way most of these Geese are now shot for market. 
Mr. Grayson met with this species on the western coast of Mexico, near Mazatlan, 
where, from the month of September until February, it occurs in considerable flocks, 
appearing to migrate up and down the southern Gulf shores. 
It is said to feed chiefly on berries, and is seldom seen on the water, except at 
night or when moulting. It frequents the sandy shores of rivers and lakes in flocks, 
one of their number performing the duty of sentinel. They breed in great numbers 
in Arctic America and on the islands of the Polar Sea, but are more rarely seen on the 
coast of Hudson’s Bay. This bird migrates over the interior, and its breeding-places 
are always chosen in the vicinity of wooded tracts. It passes north in large flocks 
at the same time with, or a little later than, the Snow Goose, through the interior of 
the Fur Country to the breeding-places, which are in the woody districts skirting the 
Mackenzie to the north of the sixty-seventh parallel, and also to the islands in the 
Arctic seas. The Indians imitate its call by patting the mouth with the hand while 
they repeat the syllable wah. The resemblance of the note of this species to the 
laugh of a man has given to the bird the common name of “ Laughing Goose.” 
Mr. Hearne, in his “Journey” (p. 443), refers to this species as the “Laughing 
Goose.” In size, he says, it is the equal of the Snow Goose, but its skin, when 
stripped of its feathers, is delicately white, and the flesh excellent. It visits Church- 
ill River in very small numbers ; but about two hundred miles to the northwest of 
that River he has seen it fly in large flocks, like the common Snow Goose. Hear 
Cumberland House and Basquian this bird is found in such numbers that the Indians, 
in the moonlight, frequently kill upwards of twenty at a shot. Like the “ Horned 
Wavey ” ( Anser liossi), it never flies with the lead of the shore, but is always seen 
arriving from the westward. The general breeding-places of this species were not 
known to Mr. Hearne, although a few of their eggs had been occasionally found north 
of Churchill River. Captain Blakiston speaks of this Goose as being a common bird 
on the Saskatchewan in the spring and autumn, especially in the latter season, when 
it is found in immense numbers. Mr. Ross also found it abundant on the Mackenzie, 
as far north as the Arctic coast. The marshy country bordering the lower parts of 
the Saskatchewan River, in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland, is a great resort 
of this species. 
