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A NSERI FORMES 
of family life and if necessary share the supreme sacrifice in its behalf. We 
speak of the goose as the personification of foolishness, but the Canada 
Goose is one of the most intelligent and wiliest of birds and exhibits occa- 
sional bits of strategy that are astonishing. 
What can be done to make these evidences of sagacity and devotion 
familiar to us all has been shown by Jack Miner, who has induced so sus- 
picious a bird to come close about his house, inspired it with such confidence 
that it becomes as poultry about the back door, yet loses none of its. wild 
ways or independence. Even more remarkable, he has overcome one of 
its strongest instincts, that of migration, and has induced it to winter far 
north of its natural wintering ground. If he can do this by means of 
simple protection and a little food, there is surely no reason, except our own 
indifference, for losing this magnificent bird from the prairies. Local 
sentiment can do more to apply practically Jack Miner’s spectacular 
methods than can any law that may be passed, or enforced when enacted. 
One of the great enemies of the geese is the automobile. On the 
prairie’s level roads intersecting everywhere, and even with crosscuts 
across country possible, its untiring wheels follow the weary feeding flocks 
from pitch to pitch until, unrefreshed and hopeless of rest, they hurry off 
on their migratory way, refusing to tarry in the neighbourhood where 
they are so mercilessly harried. Nor are the results more satisfactory to 
the pursurers, as very few birds are taken in this way, and the survivors are 
so restless and uneasy that legitimate sport is spoiled for others. Without 
the development of a more sportsman-like spirit in the shooting public, 
it seems difficult or impossible to control this evil without laws more 
drastically curtailing our liberties than it seems possible or expedient to 
enforce. 
173. Common Brant, la bernache commune. Brania bernicla. L, 26. Plate 
V A. A small, greyish brown goose, paler below, with a black head, neck, and upper 
breast interrupted only by a partly broken, narrow, white collar on the upper neck. 
Distinctions. The black head without white face spots of any kind is characteristic 
of the Brant. Unfortunately, the term “Brant” has been applied throughout the Prairie 
Provinces to the White-fronted Goose, which is an inexcusable misuse of the name. On 
the Pacific coast and in the interior of British Columbia the term “Brant” is also mis- 
applied to Lesser Canada and Cackling Geese. 
Field Marks. A small, dark, or nearly black, goose with white V over the tail when 
flying, but without white face marks. Only to be expected on salt water. 
Nesting. On the ground of the tundras. 
Distribution. The northern hemisphere. In America, breeding across the Arctic 
coast and islands and migrating down both seacoasts. It appears inland or on fresh water 
only as a rare straggler. One record for Manitoba and occasional stragglers on the lower 
Great Lakes are the only authenticated occurrences in Canada away from the immediate 
vicinity of the sea. 
SUBSPECIES. Two New World races are separated from that of the Old, as — The 
White-bellied Brant (la Bernache k ventre blanc) Branta bernicla hrota and the Black 
Brant (la Bernache commune noire) Brania bernicla nigricans, the latter being given full 
specific standing in the 1931 Check-list. The White-bellied Brant is identified by the 
underbody being light grey, sharply contrasting with the black breast. It is particularly 
an eastern bird migrating along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Occasional specimens and intermediates occur on the west coast. The Black Brant has 
a dark underbody blending imperceptibly into the black breast without sharp division. 
It is entirely a west coast species. The two breed in the high Arctics, meeting in the 
neighbourhood of Melville Island. Winters from New Jersey to the Carolinas and 
Vancouver to Lower California. 
