GEESE 
85 
numbers, turning the lakes and fields upon which it settles white as with 
snow. En route, the great flocks were formerly taken toll of by the Hud- 
son’s Bay Company’s posts and the inhabitants of the northern unorganized 
territories, who killed large numbers to salt for winter use. Even under 
this great drain, their numbers did not seem to diminish as did those of other 
species. When they reach civilization, where they are actively hunted, 
they are so wary that few large bags are made within our territory. 
Some twenty years ago, when seed was generally sown broadcast, the 
large flocks caused occasional serious damage and sometimes necessitated 
the replanting of crops. Settling on the newly sown fields the flocks pro- 
gressed across them like drifting snow, the rear birds constantly passing 
over their fellows in front and leaving the ground clean of seed behind. 
Such immense flocks are seldom seen today, and present methods of drilling 
grain would prevent damage from them, as geese do not scratch as do 
chickens or grouse. Snow Geese are erratic in their choice of feeding 
grounds and seldom return to the same fields. It is because of this habit, 
and their extreme wariness, that methods suitable for hunting the larger 
Canada Geese mostly fail when used against this species. 
169. 1. Blue Goose, l'oie bleue. Chen caerulescens. L, 26. About the size of 
the Snow and the White-fronted Geese, but body slaty grey and brown, wave-marked 
with lighter feather edges on back and below. 
Wings and rump mostly slate colour; head and 
neck solid white. Juvenile is similar, but head 
and neck entirely brown. The bill is almost 
identical with that of the Snow Goose (See 
Figure 121). 
Distinctions. The combination of white head 
and neck with darker body does not occur in any 
other American goose except the Emperor Goose, 
but that species has a broad, sharply defined band 
of black along the throat and foreneck, and is so 
widely separated in range from the Blue, that 
confusion is very unlikely. The brown-headed 
juvenile is very similar to the young White- 
fronted Goose, but has pink instead of yellow 
legs and feet. 
Field Marks. The white head and neck and 
dark body can be distinguished at a great distance. 
Except for the flesh-coloured instead of yellow legs 
and feet, the juvenile can hardly be told by eye- 
sight observation from the young White-fronted 
Goose. 
Nesting. On the ground of the tundra. 
Distribution. Nesting on southwestern Baffin 
Island and the islands at the mouth of Hudson 
Bay, migrating through Manitoba to the Gulf 
coast. On the way it has few regular stopping 
places and the bulk of the species seem to make 
the journey from Louisiana and Texas coasts 
to southern Manitoba in a single flight. About 
the only place in settled Canada where it seems 
of regular occurrence in appreciable numbers 
is southern Manitoba. Here, on a narrow migra- 
tion front, immense flocks are seen each spring, but it is seldom noted in the autumn. 
Elsewhere in Canada it is but an erratic straggler. The distribution and migration of 
this species have only lately been solved. 
The Blue Goose in habit is so like the Snow Goose, with which it often 
associates, that for a long time it was regarded as the young of that species. 
Figure 122 
Blue Goose; scale, 
