74 BIRDS OF P. E. ISLAND. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Individuals of the White, or Snow Goose 
     
     sometimes appear in the flocks of common Wild 
     
     Geese, early in the season. The White—fronted 
     
     Goose is also here at times. 
     
    

    
     Following the Geese, soon after the ice breaks 
     
     up, Brant come into our harbors, always in large 
     
     flocks, of one hundred or more. They are much 
     
     smaller than Geese, being only two feet in length, 
     
     while Geese are three feet. They remain in our 
     
     quiet bays in great numbers all through the 
     
     -sunny days of May, scattering in freedom over 
     
     the gleaming waters, dappling in the surface, and 
     
     sounding their hoarse, sonorous, creaking calls 
     
     through the still air of calm spring days. june 
     
     6th, if the weather is favorable, is their date for 
     
     leaving for the North, 'when they may be seen 
     
     departing in great flocks in the calm of declining 
     
     days. They are but little seen during their return 
     
     migration in October. 
     
    

    
     The dreary winters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
     
     during which'ice sometimes forms solid to the 
     
     Magdalens, offer little inducement for water—fowl 
     
     to stay with us; yet in the severest months, 
     
     wherever a stretch of blue wave breaks among 
     
     the floes, Golden—eyes, or Whistlers, Pintails and