Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS

THE SWANS, GEESE, DUCKS, AND MERGANSERS

Brent or Sea Geese

Passing over a small number of relatively unimportant Old World forms, we come to the last members of this subfamily, namely, the Brent or Sea Geese (Branta). They have in general much the same form as those previously mentioned, but are distinguished by the darker plumage, the head and neck being mainly black, and the bill, legs, and feet entirely deep black at all ages. Of the eight or nine species and subspecies recognized all but one are found in North America, and of these the Canada Goose (B. canadensis) is by far the best known.

It is a bird from thirty-five to forty-three inches long, with the back and wings grayish brown, the under parts grayish white, the head and neck black, with the throat and a large patch on the side of the head white. It is one of the most widely distributed of our birds, being found over nearly the entire temperate parts of the continent.

It breeds mainly in the northern United States and the British Provinces, coming south in winter to the Middle and Southern States, and even to Mexico. It usually builds a nest of sticks, lined with down, this being placed on the ground in open country, or along the shores of rivers or lakes, or occasionally in trees, then utilizing an old nest of the Osprey or some other large bird. The eggs are usually four or five in number, buffy white, and about three and one half by two and one half inches. They usually migrate at night and their familiar honk-honk comes floating through the air with astonishing distinctness.

They are strong, rather rapid flying birds, and when on the wing arrange themselves in V-shaped lines under the direction of a trusted leader, who avoids so far as possible all suspicious places.

Occasionally they become confused on entering a bank of fog or the smoke overhanging a city and come close to the earth, when they not infrequently dash against monuments and lighthouses. They feed on aquatic plants, seeds, roots of sedges, etc., and when feeding in companies always have sentinels out, who warn the flock at the first show of danger.

They arrive from the south at their summer homes in flocks of varying size, and remain in company for some weeks, then break up into pairs and proceed to the business of rearing their young. After the nesting season is over the moult takes place, and being then unable to fly the birds are often destroyed in great numbers. They have been partially domesticated, but unless the wing is cut are liable to be allured by passing wild birds.

There are a number of well-marked subspecies, which are thought by some to be entitled to full specific rank, among them Hutchins's Goose (B. c. hutchinsii), which closely resembles the Canada Goose in color, but is uniformly smaller. It breeds in Arctic and sub-Arctic America, coming south in winter through the United States and northeastern Asia. The White-cheeked Goose (B. c. occidenta-lis) may be known by the very dark coloration, the size being about that of Hutchins's Goose. Its breeding grounds are on the northwest coast of North America, north to Sitka, and it comes south in winter to California. Similar but not much larger than a Mallard Duck is the Cackling Goose (B. c. minima), which is also found on the Pacific coast, chiefly about the lower Yukon and the shores of Norton Sound; in winter it visits California.

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