and, to a less degree, in coloration. According to tlie
authors of the recently published * North American Birds,’
there are four distinguishable forms belonging to two sections.
The first section comprises the large form B.
canadensis, which inhabits the United States generally, and
the British possessions, breeding chiefly north of 40°; and
B. occidentalis, found on the north-west coast from Sitka in
summer to California in winter. The second section consists
of the much smaller B. hutchinsi, which breeds in the
Arctic regions, migrating through the Western United States
and Mississippi valley; and B. leucopareia, which breeds
on the coast of Alaska, and migrates southwards into the
Western United States. The form which has been introduced
into the British Islands appears to he the first and
largest of the four, which breeds in the eastern portions of
Arctic and temperate North America in great numbers,
migrating as far south as Mexico in autumn and winter;
at which seasons it also visits the Bermudas. Before the
settlement of the country it used to breed in Kentucky, and
as late as 1819 Audubon found the nest, eggs, and young
near Henderson, on the Ohio.
Richardson says:—“ The Canada Geese, or ‘ bustards’
of the Canadians (les outardes), breed throughout the wooded
districts, but do not reach the vicinity of the Arctic Sea,
except on the hanks of some of the large rivers. The most
northern localities in which we observed them were the
channels between the alluvial islands which form the delta
of the Mackenzie. They generally build their nest on the
ground, but some pairs occasionally breed on the banks
of the Saskatchewan in trees, depositing their eggs in
the deserted nests of Ravens or Fishing Eagles.” Mr.
Macfarlane found five eggs of this species in a deserted
Hawk’s nest, warmly lined with down, which had apparently
been plucked by the female from her own body; and Captain
Bendire states that during a spring when the Harney valley,
Oregon, was flooded, all the nests of the Canada Geese were
placed in trees, principally willows; although during the
previous dry season they were on the ground. The nests
are composed of decayed leaves, dry grass, willow7 sticks,
turf, and moss lined with feathers and down ; the eggs,
varying from six to nine in number, are thick-shelled, dull
white in colour, and measure about 3*5 by 2*5 in.
The food of the Canada Goose appears to consist mainly
of grass, hut young birds are also partial to locusts, slugs,
and snails. On the spring migrations, flocks not unfre-
quently alight in fields of young grain, and commit great
havoc in the course of a single night. Both keenness of
sight and quickness of hearing are remarkable in this bird,
and it is so vigilant and suspicious that it is seldom taken by
surprise. Its call is imitated by a prolonged nasal pronunciation
of the syllable wook frequently repeated, and by
this means it is sometimes decoyed within gunshot by the
hunters in the Fur-countries.
The beak is black ; the irides very dark brown ; head,
and nearly all the neck, black; chin and throat white, extending
upwards, and ending in a point behind the ear-
coverts. This white patch, from its similarity in colour
and position to a neckcloth, has given origin to one of the
names of the species, the Cravat Goose. The back and
the wing-coverts, the secondaries and tertials, brown, the
feathers of all these, except the first, with lighter-coloured
edges; primaries and tail-feathers black; the rump also
black; the upper tail-coverts white ; lower part of the neck
almost vdiite; breast and belly pale brown ; vent and under
tail-coverts white; legs, toes, and interdigital membranes
dark lead-colour, almost black. The whole length, according
to Richardson, is forty-one or forty-two inches ; the
wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the second and
longest quill-feather, nineteen inches and a half.