108 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
ably), Hudson Bay, Baffin Island, and on other arctic lands north of the North 
American Continent; winters in temperate North America from British Columbia, 
Nevada, Utah, southern Colorado, Illinois, and Connecticut south to the Gulf 
coast, central Mexico, and northern Lower California. Uncommon east of the 
Mississippi, most abundant in California, Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. 
State Records. —The earlier zoological explorers in New Mexico found Snow 
Geese common in fall migration; Emory notes them as abundant in migration 
September 29, 1846, near Albuquerque; Abert records them as abundant October 
20-31, 1846, near Isleta and Laguna; McCall saw them in 1851 while crossing the 
southern part of the State; and about the same time Henry noted them near Albu¬ 
querque. A single white Goose in a flock of Canada Geese is reported as seen 
November 22, 1906, near Isleta (Stafford). [One was shot on the Rio Grande, 
January, 1917, and another white bird taken for the species, seen at a distance 
over the Gila in June, 1917, possibly a wounded one left behind in migration 
(Merrill)J—W. W. Cooke. 
Food.—S tems and roots and tubers of aquatic plants, green vegetation, and 
grain (largely waste), wild berries, and insects. 
General Habits. —When the Lesser Snow Goose is flying over, its 
shrill honk can readity be distinguished by the experienced listener from 
the hoarse sonorous honk of the Canada Goose. In the southward 
migration of waterfowl, known as the “northern flight,” the white geese 
reach North Dakota the first or second week in October. When they 
reached the Sweetwater Lakes in 1915,1 was told, they came in a column 
about a mile and a half wide, flying low over windmill and barn, and 
could be seen coming from the east as far as one could see and going 
into the west “until they were as small as swallows.” They stayed],in 
the neighborhood till driven away by hunters and would spend the night 
on a large open lake, and go out to feed in the stubble fields “about 
sunup,” returning from ten to twelve, going out again between two and 
four, and returning about sundown. They would go miles to feed, 
choosing, when possible, burnt barley fields as the kernels of waste grain 
could be easily seen on the blackened ground. 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 130, 164-173, 
1925.— Grinnell, Bryant^ and Storer, Game Birds of California, 7-9, 210, 
215, 1918. 
RIVER DUCKS: Subfamily Anatinae 
While not confined to fresh waters, the River Ducks frequent marshes 
and inland waters so much more than the Sea Ducks that they are 
known as Surface-feeding Ducks, and by sportsmen as Puddle-Ducks. 
Feeding mainly in shallow water, they seldom dive; so the feet are 
smaller than in the Sea Ducks, the toes arid webs less highly developed, 
and the hind toe without a lobe. “Their bills are proportionally 
longer, flatter, and more adapted to dabbling in water than those of 
S$a Ducks, reaching a wonderful perfection in the Shoveller” (Eaton). 
The color pattern of the drake on head, wings, and rear flanks is abruptly 
