CANADA GOOSE. 521 
this portion of the country is a specimen taken by Dr. Hoy, from a flock 
of three, upon the lake shore near Racine (Wisconsin). Dr. Coues men- 
tions observing them in vast numbers on the Missouri river in October, 
1872. | 
BRANTA CANADENSIS (L.) Gray. 
Canada Goose; Wild Goose. 
Anser canadensis, AUDUBON, Orn. Biog., iii, 1835, 1; B. Am., 1834, 179.—KIRTLAND, 
Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 166, 186.—CoLLins, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 387. 
Anas canadensis, KIRTLAND, Preliminary Rep. Ohio Geolog. Surv. 1838, 67. 
Bernicla canadensis, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 370, 378; Reprint, 1861, 12, 20. 
Branta canadensis, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohie Agric. Rep. for 1874, 574; Re- 
print, 1875, 14.LaNna@pon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 17; Revised List, Journ. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 185; Reprint, 19; Summer Birds, ib., iii, 1880, 228. 
Canada Goose, KIRTLAND, Fam. Visitor, i, 1850, 72. 
Anas canadensis, LINNZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 198. 
Anser canadensis, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist., Nat., ——. 
Bernicla canadensis, Bon, Isis, 1826, 921, 
Branta canadensis, GRAY. 
Tail normally eighteen feathered. Grayish-brown, below paler or whitish-gray, bleach- 
ing on the crissum, all the feathers with lighter edges; head and neck black, with a 
broad white patch on the throat mounting each side of the head ; tail black, with white 
upper coverts. Length, about 36; wing, 1#-20; tail, 64-74; bill, 12-2; tarsus, usually 
over 3. 
Habitat, the whole of North America, breeding in the United States, as well as further 
north. Accidental in Kurope. 
Common spring and fall migrant; winter resident in part, and, per- 
haps still, though rarely, a summer resident, breeding in retired loca- 
tions. Dr. Kirtland says: “TI learn from Dr. Ward that the Wild Goose 
frequently spends the winter in the Scioto Valley and becomes so tame 
as to visit the corn-fields in search of food.” At the time Dr. Kirtland 
wrote (1838) the fact that Wild Geese visited the corn-fields may have 
been an evidence of their tameness, but if so, it must also point to the 
vast changes which have since taken place. At the present time the 
Geese find no more secure feeding grounds than the vast corn-fields of the 
Scioto Valley. However, these birds are less numerous than’ formerly, 
at least in the vicinity of this city. They seem to retain for a long time 
an attachment for places, and visit each year a favorite locality on the 
Olentangy River, so near this city, that I have known amateur sports- 
men to refrain from shooting them, for the reason that “they were too 
near town to be wild geese.” 
