Western Bird Guide. Reed Charles Keller
Islands, but in great numbers farther north.
Nest.– They make their nests of seaweed and grass, warmly lining same with down from their breasts. 6 to 8 eggs (3.00 × 2.00).
STELLER EIDER
A very beautiful species; head white, washed with greenish on the forehead and nape; chin, throat, neck, back, tail and crissum, black; under parts chestnut; wing coverts white, the long scapulars black and white.
Nest.– Are made of grasses and heavily lined with down. It breeds on the rocky coast and islands of Bering Sea. The six to nine eggs are pale olive green in color (2.25 × 1.60).
Range.– Arctic regions in America, chiefly on the Aleutian Islands and northwest coast of Alaska.
SPECTACLED EIDER
This species is black on the under parts and mostly white above. The head is largely washed with sea green, leaving a large patch of white, narrowly bordered with black around each eye, thus resembling a pair of spectacles and giving it the name it has.
Nest.– Is made of seaweed, grass and lined with down from their breast; they are placed upon the ground under overhanging stones or clumps of grass. 5 to 9 eggs (2.70 × 1.85).
KING EIDER
This species is very different from any of the preceding, the crown being of an ashy blue, and the long scapulars black in place of the white of the others. It also has a broad V-shaped mark on the throat and a black crescent between the eye and bill. Like all of the other Eiders the females are mottled brown and black, the different species being very difficult to separate.
Nest.– These are usually a depression in the ground lined with the down from the breast, and contain from 6 to 10 eggs of a greenish color (3.00 × 2.00).
Range.– Northern North America, breeding along the coast of Siberia, Bering Sea and Arctic coast of America.
SCOTER
Scoters or “Coots,” as they are generally called, are Sea Ducks whose plumage is almost wholly black; base of the bill is yellow and orange. This species nest similar to the Eiders, concealing it under overhanging rocks or in tufts of grass. 6 to 10 eggs of a dull buff color (2.50 × 1.70).
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER
This is the largest of the Scoters, and may easily be distinguished from the others by the white speculum on the wing and a white comet extending from the eye backwards. It also has a yellow eye.
This species often feeds in very deep water, like others of the family.
Nest.– They nest on the ground, generally in long grass or under low bushes, making a coarse nest of grasses, and sometimes twigs, lined with feathers; 6 to 8 pale buff eggs (2.75 × 1.70).
Range.– North America, breeding in British Columbia and Alaska.
SURF SCOTER
The male of this species is entirely black, excepting a white spot on top of the head and another on the nape; eye white; bill red, white and yellow with a large black spot near the base. The female is a grayish brown, lighter below; also with a spot of dull white in front of the eye and the same in back.
RUDDY DUCK
This species may always be recognized by the reddish brown upper parts; blackish head, with white cheeks and chin and under parts silvery white with grayish wash next to the ruddy. Bill is very stout and broad at the end, and the tail feathers are very stiff and pointed. Females have back, crown and sides grayish, cheeks showing traces of white as on the male. These ducks are very quick either in the water, on land, or in flight.
Nest.– They are usually made of grass and rushes and generally lined with down in which are placed their eggs to the number of from 8 to 12 of a grayish white color (2.40 × 1.75) unusually large for the size of the bird.
Range.– The whole of North America, breeding from Central British Columbia southward as far as Lower California.
SNOW GOOSE
Plumage entirely white with primaries tipped with black. This is the smallest species of the Snow Goose, the eastern variety being some ten inches longer, found in N. A., west of the Mississippi River.
ROSS GOOSE
This beautiful species, with its breeding range unknown, winters in California and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and is the smallest of the family.
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
These birds may be recognized by their mottled plumage, dark head and white forehead; bill and feet orange. They are the most common on the western coast and large numbers of them are sold in the markets.
Their food consists mostly of vegetable matter, frogs, snails, and insects.
Nest.– These are placed upon the ground in a slight depression and made of dried grasses, feathers and down. Eggs are from four to nine in number, of a dull buff color (3.00 × 2.05).
Range.– Western and central North America, breeds on the Arctic coast south to the lower Yukon Valley, winters from British Columbia to southern California. During the spring flight immense flocks of these birds pass through Oregon and follow down the west coast.
CANADA GOOSE
This species is the most widely known of the family, and is the most numerous. Its familiar “honk” has long been the signal of the coming spring, and the V-shaped formation in which the flocks migrate is always an object of interest to every one; large birds, with long necks outstretched, wings beating the air in unison, and all following the leadership of one bird in their journey over their invisible path.
Nest.– Of grasses and feathers lined with down, placed on the ground in marshes or near lakes or ponds; four to nine eggs of a buff or drab color are laid (3.50 × 2.50).
Range.– The whole of North America, breeding from northern United States northward, and wintering in the southern part of U. S. to Lower California.
CACKLING GOOSE
This is a perfect miniature of the above, the difference being only in the size. It breeds in Alaska and along the Arctic coast and migrates in winter along the western coast south to southern California. Eggs are buff color; 4 to 9 (2.90 × 1.95).
BLACK BRANT
Head, neck and breast black with a broad white collar nearly encircling the black neck, back a grayish brown; under parts mostly white. They are very inquisitive and easily come to decoys, and consequently large numbers of them are shot each year for the markets. They are a noisy bird especially when in large flocks. They get most of their food by tipping up in the shallow waters, where they feed upon the tender water plants and roots gathered from the bottom.
Nest.– A depression in the ground lined with grass and feathers and the down from their breasts; four to eight eggs are laid of a grayish color (2.80 × 1.75).
Range.– Western North America, breeding abundantly in northern Alaska