(COPY) 
August 2nd, 1922. 
Dr. John C. Phillips, 
Wenham, Massachusetts. 
My dear Phillips: 
We will wait and see what Kelson finds out. All of this information 
as to Canada geese weighing over 12 lbs. is new and was not brought out by 
the extensive advertising that Holland gave the subject "How much does a 
Goose weigh?” All replies thereto indicated that no one had ever had a 
Canada goose weighing over 12 lbs., and that is the weight of your largest 
bird. 
You think a 14 lb. goose is possible; then how do you account for 
the 18 lb. goose that I actually know about and those still larger geese 
that other people claim to know about? Did you not notice a difference 
in the coloration of this bird, being a lighter gray than the Canada? Have 
you ever noticed the brassy, rufous tinge on the Canada that I am sure will 
be found on the adult Mershon goose? How do you account for the fact that 
these large geese were always in flocks by themselves? For instance, the 
entire flock would be these geese that weighed over 14 lbs.; the 14 lb. ones 
would be the young of that year; their parents were the 17 and 18 lbs. and 
larger birds that accompanied the young. 
I have always in early October during the twenty years that I was 
going to Dawson, K. D. seen these big geese in these isolated flocks by 
themselves. When they were shot up, of course the remnants probably mixed 
with the other geese. 
That Canada goose that is in the picture alongside the big goose 
I considered a very large Canada goose, and yet it is but an infant alongside 
the big fellow, and the big one even is a small one of its kind. The main 
peculiarity that I noticed about these big geese in the old days that always 
impressed me was the peculiar shape of the body; they grew so much longer 
than the Canada goose, the latter being a round, plump bird compared with 
these long-bodied fellows. 
Yours truly. 
(Signed) W. B. Mershon 
