166 Jo•r•.•: BreedingHabits of the Barnacle Goose. ApriAuk1

task of preparing his last book was truly remarkable. It has beensaid that ornithologyto him was a game--the greatestand bestgame he played. If so,he playedit like othergames, to win, and none knew better than he that winnersnever quit. Field Museumof Nat. Hist., Chicago.

THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE BARNACLE GOOSE.

BY F. C. R. JOI•q:•DAIN, M.A., M.B.O. 'U., C. F. A. O.

Plate V.

U•?I•- the seasonof 1921, all that was definitely known of the breedingof the BarnacleGoose, (Branta leucopsis (Beehst.)), was due to the efforts of two ornithologicalworkers, Dr. Alexander I(oenig of Bonn, Germany,and Mr. A. L. Y. Mannicheof Den- mark. The few earlier breedingrecords are all of a more or less doubtful character. In 1858 a Gooseand a nest of eggswere brought to the SwedishExpedition under Nordenski51dby the harpoonerof a sealingsloop from somelocality near Bell Sound, Spitsbergen,but it is by no meanscertain that the bird was shot from the eggs and probablythe eggswere found on one of the isletsin the bay and belongedto Branta b. bernicla. A supposed easeof breedingon the LofodenIsles, Norway, in 1870-1872,was reportedby Collett,but the eggsare remarkkblysmall for this species,and the localitylies far outsidethe normalbreeding range, so that even if no mistake was made, probably one of the birds wasprevented from migratingby someinjury. A nestwith eggs from which the gander was shot is said to have been found by Nathorstand DeGeerin 1882in Bell Sound,Spitsbergen, but here againthere are discrepanciesin the variousaccounts, Lieutenant Stjernspetzinforming Mr. A. H. Cocksthat three young were taken. In 1913, Mr. H. Noble was shown a clutch of five eggs and down which were said to have been taken. in Iceland in 1912 (ef. British Birds (Mag.) X, p. 181). The first really authenticinformation on the subjecthowever, comesfrom Dr. Koenlg, who givesfull details of his discoveryin his 'Avifauna Spitzbergensls,'p. 222-226. On June 29, 1907,he found a small breeding colony in one of the side valleys leading Tnz Avx, Von. XXXIX. PLATI• V.

i•EST ANDEGGS OF THE BARNACLEGOOSE, Vol.1922XXXlX] J JOURD•N,Breeding Habits of theBaraacle Goose. 167 into Advent Bay, and on the followingday obtainedtwo clutches of five and four eggsrespectively, besides shooting three malesand two females. In 1908 he returned to the stonespot, but though abouteight pairs were breeding in the valley,only one nest proved to be accessible,which contained three incubatedeggs on June 15. These twelve eggs,still in Dr. Koenig's fine collectionat Bonn, remained the only authentic specimenstaken frmn wild birds until 1921. Perhaps the most curious featureabout these nests which has no doubt been the principal factor in preservingthmn frmn molestation,was their unusualposition. In Spitsbergenit is notuncommon to findoutcrops of rockoeeurlng at intervalsalong the sides of valleys, and although undergoinga slow processof disintegration,and split by frost, they still stand out from the steep hillsidesin great masses,often Mth perpendicularsides, leadingdown to a talus of brokenrocks below. Here it is, on these "bastions"as I(oenig aptly terms them, that the Barnacle Goose electsto breed. Sometimesthe nest may be found on a mossy ledgeat the foot of a steepcrag, with a drop of fifteen to twenty or thirty feet below. At other times a narrow rock spur, pro- jeeringout into the valleyfrmn the hillsideis chosen,while in some easesbirds have been seen incubating their eggsat the top of somerock pinnacleor in a hollowin the faceof an overhungelifl. In 1910, Mr. A. L. V. Manniche, who accompaniedthe Danish Expeditionto Northeast Greenlandin 1906-1908,published his ornithologicaland othernotes in the 'Meddelelserom Gr6nland.' Bd. XLV. Here he describeshow in June 1908, he discovereda greatbreeding colony on the steepface of a mountainover 1100 feet high. The birdswere breeding on ledgeson the upper half of a greatcliff, and evenat a distanceof three-quartersof a mile. the noiseof their notes was distinctly audible. Manniche esti•nated the number of breedingbirds at about 150. Unfortunatelyhe was unable to reach the nesting placesor even to ascertainwith certaintywhether they had actuallybegun to breed. An interest- . ing featureof this colonywas the presenceof an eyrie of Green- land Falcons mnong the geese. The spring of 1921, when the Oxford University Expedition visited Spitsbergen,was a remarkablyopen one, and there was very •nuchless snow than in normalyears. We were,however, 168 Jo•JR•)•,•N,Breeding Habits of theBarnacle Goose. [AprirAukI

rather later than we had expectedto be in reachingAdvent Bay and it was about 11 P.M. on the night of June 25 that a small party, consistingof Messrs. A. H. Paget Wilkes, S. Gordon and myself,set out to work oneof the valleysleading down to the bay. The sun was still shiningand the weather still and fine as we made our way along the side of the desolatelooking valley, on the oppositeside of which many snow•wreaths still lay. A succession of gray bluffs half way up the long slopeof the mountain side lookedpromising and we slowlytoiled over the loosetalus towards them, scanningthe cragsclosely with the glassesin the hope of seeingthe white face of the setting bird or her mate. We had not gonevery fax'before a gooseappeared flying down the valley towardsus and was presentlyjoined by a second,which must have come from one of tile bluffs. Both bh'ds seemed anxious and uttered a cacklingnote, and as they camenear we recognized the boldly contrastingblack and white plumageand the character- istic white face of the Barnacle Goose. Round they went away again up the val]ey, one bh'd finally settlingon the top of a big rocky bastion. This was most encouraging,and once more the glasseswere' ttu'ned on the rocksahead of us. Half way up a steep rock face perhapsa kilometre ahead there was a white speck,and as the glasseswere directed to it, it seemedto move. The exact spot was hma'iedlypointed out to the others and Mr. Wilkes at once set off towards it. As he gradually came nearer fn'st the ganderand then the gooseleft the bluff but the latter was most unwilling to desert her highly incubatedeggs and sat with out- stretchedneck till at last her fearsgot the better of her. The nest containedfive eggsand a p',entlfulsupply of down and feathers, as well as a goodmany droppings. It wasnot particularlydifficult to reach from above, and a short scramblewas all that was needed beforethe eggsand down were in the collector'shands. Time was pressingas we had arrangedfox' ore' ship to leaveat midnight,but fortunatelybefore turning back Mr. Wilkes decidedto try another bluff still further up the valley. Here on a projecting sptu'of rock jutting out over the valley, somehundreds of feet belowwas a secondnest containingfour eggsin a neat down-linedhollow. Flakes of down were scattered over the rocks, while numerous droppingsmarked the place where the ganderkept watch beside •Vol.1922xxxIxl J Jo•za•x•N,Breedi•g Habits of theBarnacle G,ose. 169 his mate. The accompanyingphotograph (Plate V) is curiously .deceptive. The high wallsof the oppositeside of the valleyand the snowdrifts in the gulliescome out clearlyand the marshyfiats at the foot of the valley can alsobe well seen,but the rocky spur in the foreground,on which the nest'is situated,might well be only a few feet abovethe flats below,instead of beingtwo hundred feet or so above them. A secondvisit a few days later was even more successful.On this occasionno fewer than three nestswere taken, containingfive, five, and three eggsrespectively. All three clutcheswere highly incubatedand many hours of painstakingtoil were spentbefore the last bonewas safelyextracted. Besidesthese nests, there was .alsoanother breeding place in a smallcave in the face of an over- hungand very rotten cliff, whichcould only have beenreached at the expenseof muchtime and considerablerisk. High tip above us wasa great cliff face,and here I plainly sawa goosestand up for a minute or two and then disappearagain on to a ledge. An- otherbird settledon a mushroomshaped pinnacle of rock on which her head couldjust be seensilhouetted against the sky, where she is probablysafe against all comersfor many yearsto come. It is evident that the habit of nestingon cliff faceshas been ,adoptedby the BarnacleGoose and to someextent also by the Pink-looted Goose--as a protection against the attacks of the Attic Fox. Many of the nests must be quite inaccessible,while in other cases,the mammalis at a very great disadvantageon a ledgewith a drop of anythingfrom fifteento fifty feet belowand a coupleof angry geese,as much at home in the air as on land. Unlike the ducks,the Ansereshave a high standardof duty on the part of the husband. Althoughthe male takes no sharein incubation,and incubationpatches are only found in the females, the males spendmost of their time on sentry duty besidetheir mates. Not only is the ganderalways on the watch and ready to give the alarm, but he is also preparedto take his share in defenceif any occasionshould arise. In every case where we foundgeese breeding in Spitsbergen,whether Pink-looted,Brent or Barnacle,the male bird was standingby the side of his mate. Thereis, however,one disadvantage of the cliffnesting habit, which would seem at first to offer almost insuperableobjections. The 170 JOVR•)aIN,Breeding Habits of theBarnacle Goose. /Apri]•[Auk

young of most cliff breedersremain in the nest till they have acquiredthe powerof flight, while the younggeese on the other hand are vegetablefeeders and can pick up their own living al- most as soonas their down is dry, but as the parents have no means of conveyingfood to them, they must necessarilyleave the nest within a day or so, and probably within a few hours of beinghatched. It seemsalmost incrediblethat goslingsshould survivea fall from the nest on to a talus of rough broken rocks manyfeet below,with the prospectof a long and toilsomejourney down to the river flats below over screes and boulders. From what we saw in the caseof the Pink-looted Goose,however, I am inclinedto believethat this is generallythe case,though it is pos- siblethat in someinstances the parent birdsmay manageto break the fall to someextent, as otherwiseit wouldseem almost impos- sible for the young to survive. It is alsoclear that the samenesting places are resortedto year after year. In most casesat the bottom of the nestinghollow and belowthe dowhlining, •,ere fragmentsof the brokenshells of someprevious brood. Even when the samenest hollow is not usedone can frequentlydiscern similar hollows within a yard or two. Only a singlebrood can be rearedduring the season,for not only is the summershort, but aboutmid-July or rather later the pri- maries are shed and the geesefor the time being are rendered incapableof flight. It would thereforebe impossiblefor them to reachtheir breedingplaces, and for safety they resort to the lagoonsand swampsin the more inaccessiblevalleys. In the presentpaper I do not proposeto dealwith the question of distributionof this speciesduring the breedingseason in the Spitsbergengroup, but I may state that the locality discovered by Dr. Koenigis by no meansthe only onenow known, as we have good evidenceof breedingfrom two or three other districts, so that unless much shot down during the moulting season,the specieswill probablyhold its ownfor longto come. As the number of authentic wild-taken eggsis so small, the. followingfigures may prove of interest. The averagesize of 84 eggs(22 taken by the Oxford Expeditionand 12 by Koenig and LeRoi) is 76.37 X 49.81 millimeters: Maxima 82.7 X 46.4 and Vol.1922xxxIx] J JOVROAIN,Breeding Habits of theBarnacle Goose. 171

77.6 X 52.7: Minlma 70.6 X 50 and 82.7 X 46.4. The average weight of 10 eggs is 10.252 grammes, Max. 11.42; Min. 9.49 When freshlaid they are pure white, and beara great resemblance to eggs of the Pink-looted Goose, but are somewhat smaller. They are, however,larger than thoseof the Brent on the average, besidesbeing considerablyheavier. The amount of down in the various nests varied considerably: probably in some cases a .certain amount remained in the nest hollow from the previous year. We found no black feathers in the nest: all were either white or had only a faint greyish tinge. On the whole the BarnacleGoose is decidedlya sociablespecies, and prefers to breed in colonies. In the Greenland colony des- .cribedby Manniche the nestswere evident]yquite closetogether and two of the nestsseen by us, were certainly not twenty yards apart. There is also good reason to believe that a much larger breedingplace existsin Spitsbergenthan that describedabove. When flushedfrom the nest the birds would join together in little parties of two, three or four, or even as many as seven, and fly anxiouslyup and down the valley, keepingup a continualcackle. :Fora goose,the Barnacleis not particularlyshy, and it wascurious to see the gander regarding us with an inquiring air, with head upwards as we looked down on to the nesting ledgefrom the hill- side fifty feet above him. When incubationis far advancedthe goosesits very closely,and on one occasionI walked up a narrow track on to a ledgeabout half way up oneof the bastion-likebluffs from the side,to within a few yards of a settinggoose, in spiteof the fact that a coupleof shotshad just been fired not fifty yards .away and a dead bird from a neighboringnest lay on the rocks below. Appleton Rectory,Abingdon, Berkshire, England.