106 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
feathers, and are consequently unable to fly in the months of June, 
July, and the early part of August. They keep very close during this 
moulting season, and are rarely seen by day; yet I have frequently come 
across them at such times in the far interior, and on many occasions 
have caught them alive. When surprised on some lone lake or river 
side, they betake themselves at once to the land, and run very swiftly 
into the bush or tall grass to hide. But they appear somewhat stupid, 
and if they can succeed in getting their heads out of sight under a stone 
or stump, imagine they are quite safe from observation. When over¬ 
taken in the water, and hard pressed, they will dive readily, remaining a 
considerable time beneath, swimming or running on the bottom very 
fast. About the fifteenth of August the old birds, and most of the young 
ones, are capable of flight, and from thence to the first of September they 
rapidly gain strength of wing. Soon after this they betake themselves 
to the seaside, congregating in large flocks in the shallow estuaries or 
deep fiords, to feed during the nighttime, but are off again to the barrens 
at earliest dawn, where they are generally to be found in daytime” 
(1884, pp. 311-312). 
In Yellowstone Park, Mr. M. P. Skinner states, about four hundred 
pairs are supposed to nest. Here, like the Mallards they become very 
tame, proving an unfailing source of interest to visitors. 
The great Canada Goose, which winters in the southern part of New 
Mexico, is now a comparatively rare migrant, but should be listened for 
spring and fall. Its “trumpet-like honking” from high overhead may 
lead to the discovery of a flying wedge, but in whatever formation, singly 
or in company, the large birds can readily be recognized on the wing by 
their white throat patches and white upper and under tail coverts, as 
with slow wing beats they make their way across the sky, some of 
them, as Doctor Chapman puts it, “embarked on a journey of several 
thousand miles,” but going and coming “as surely as though they car¬ 
ried chart and compass” (Handbook). 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 130, 204-223, 
1925.— Ray, M. S., Condor, XIV, 67-72, 1912 (nesting).— Miller, Loye, Condor, 
XXX, 119-120, 1928 (antiquity of migratory instinct).— Skinner, M. P., Roosevelt 
Wild Life Bull. Ill, 98-100, 1925 (in Yellowstone). 
[HUTCHINS GOOSE: Branta canadensis hutchinsi (Richardson) 
Description.— Length: About 25-34 inches, wing 14.7-17.7, bill 1.2-1.9, 
tarsus 2.2-3.2. Like the Canada Goose but smaller. 
Range. —Chiefly western North America. Breeds on barren grounds from Kowak 
Valley, Alaska, and mouth of Mackenzie eastward along Arctic shores and islands 
from latitude 70° south to Melville Peninsula, Hudson Bay, and Baffin Island; 
winters mainly in the western United States from British Columbia, Nevada 
Colorado, Nebraska, and Illinois south to Louisiana, Texas, and Lower California. 
