Dr Richardson informs us that, this species “breeds in the barren grounds of Arctic America, in great numbers. The eggs of a yellowish-white colour, and regularly ovate form, are a little larger than those of the Eider Duck, their length being three inches, and their greatest breadth two. The young fly in August, and by the middle of September all have departed to the southward. The Snow Goose feeds on rushes, insects, and in autumn on berries, particularly those of the Empetrum nigrum. When well fed it is a very excellent bird, far superior to the Canada Goose in juiciness and flavour. It is said that the young do not attain the full plumage before their fourth year, and until that period they appear to keep in separate flocks. They are numerous at Albany Fort in the southern part of Hudson’s Bay, where the old birds are rarely seen; and, on the other hand, the old birds in their migrations visit York Factory in great abundance, but are seldom accompanied by the young. The Snow Geese make their appearance in spring a few days later than the Canada Geese, and pass in large flocks both through the interior and on the coast.”
The young birds of this species begin to acquire their whiteness about the head and neck after the first year, but the upper parts remain of a dark bluish colour until the bird suddenly becomes white all over; at least, this is the case with such as are kept in captivity. Although it is allied to the White-fronted or Laughing Goose, Anser albifrons, I was surprised to find that Wilson had confounded the two species together, and been of opinion that the Bean Goose also was the same bird in an imperfect state of plumage. That excellent ornithologist tells us that “this species, called on the sea-coast, the Red Goose, arrives in the river Delaware, from the north, early in November, sometimes in considerable flocks, and is extremely noisy, their notes being shriller and more squeaking than those of the Canada, or common Wild Goose. On their first arrival, they make but a short stay, proceeding, as the depth of winter approaches, farther south; but from the middle of February, until the breaking up of the ice in March, they are frequently numerous along both shores of the Delaware, about and below Reedy Island, particularly near Old Duck Creek, in the State of Delaware. They feed on roots of the reeds there, which they tear up like hogs.”
This species is rare both in Massachusetts and South Carolina, although it passes over both these States in considerable numbers, and in the latter some have been known to alight among the common domestic Geese, and to have remained several days with them. My friend Dr Bachman, of Charleston, South Carolina, kept a male Snow Goose several years along with his tame Geese. He had received it from a friend while it was in its grey plumage, and the following spring it became white. It had been procured in the autumn, and proved to be a male. In a few days it became very gentle, and for several years it mated with a common Goose; but the eggs produced by the latter never hatched. The Snow Goose was in the habit of daily frequenting a mill-pond in the vicinity, and returning regularly at night along with the rest; but in the beginning of each spring it occasioned much trouble. It then continually raised its head and wings, and attempted to fly off; but finding this impossible, it seemed anxious to perform its long journey on foot, and it was several times overtaken and brought back, after it had proceeded more than a mile, having crossed fences and plantations in a direct course northward. This propensity cost it its life: it had proceeded as far as the banks of the Cooper River, when it was shot by a person who supposed it to be a wild bird.
In the latter part of the autumn of 1832, whilst I was walking with my wife, in the neighbourhood of Boston in Massachusetts, I observed on the road a young Snow Goose in a beautiful state of plumage, and after making some inquiries, found its owner, who was a gardener. He would not part with it for any price offered. Some weeks after, a friend called one morning, and told me that this gardener had sent his Snow Goose to town, and that it would be sold by auction that day. I desired my friend to attend the sale, which he did; and before a few hours had elapsed, the bird was in my possession, having been obtained for 75 cents! We kept this Goose several months in a small yard at the house where we boarded, along with the young of the Sand-hill Crane, Grus Americana. It was fed on leaves and thin stalks of cabbage, bread, and other vegetable substances. When the spring approached, it exhibited great restlessness, seeming anxious to remove northward, as was the case with Dr Bachman’s bird. Although the gardener had kept it four years, it was not white, but had the lower part of the neck and the greater portion of the back, of a dark bluish tint, as represented in the plate. It died before we left Boston, to the great regret of my family, as I had anticipated the pleasure of presenting it alive to my honoured and noble friend the Earl of Derby.
There can be little doubt that this species breeds in its grey plumage, when it is generally known by the name of Blue-winged Goose, as is the case with the young of Grus Americana, formerly considered as a distinct species, and named Grus Canadensis.
Anas hyperborea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 504.—Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. ii. p. 837.
Snow Goose, Anas hyperborea, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. viii. p. 76, pl. 68, fig. 3, Male, and p. 89, pl. 69, fig. 5, Young.
Anser hyperboreus, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 376.
Anser hyperboreus, Snow Goose, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 467.
Snow Goose, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 344.