ANATID.E THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 125 



Branta bernicla (Linn.) 



BRANT. 



Pouular synomyms. Brant Goose; Brent Goose; Common Brant. 



Anas bernicla LINN. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 124; ed. 12, i, 1766, 198. WILS. Am. Orn. viii, 1814, pi. 



72, flg. 1. 



Anzer bernicla ILLIG. Prodr. 1811, 277. Sw. &RICH. F. B.-A. ii, 1831,469. NUTT. Man. 

 ii, 1834, 359. AUD. Orn. Biog. v. 1839, 24, 610, pi. 391; Synop. 1839, 272; B. Am. vi, 1843, 

 203, pi. 379. 



Branta 'bernicla SCOPOLI, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. 1769, 67. BANNIST. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 

 1870, 131. COUES, Key, 1872, 284; Cheek List, 1873, No. 484; B. N. W. 1874, 556. A. O. 

 U. Check List, 1886, No. 173. RIDGW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887,118. 

 Anse.r brenta PALL. Zoog. Kosso.-As. ii, 1826, 223. 



Bernicla Itrenta STEPHENS, Gen. Zool. xii, pt. ii, 1824, 4(!. BAIRD, B. N. Am. 1858, 767; 

 Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 570. RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 595. COUES, Check 

 List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 700. B. B. & E. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 467. 

 Anser torquata FRISCH, Yog. Deutschl. ii, pi. 156. 

 Bernicla melanopis MACGiLL.Man. Orn. ii, 1842, 151. 



HAB. Eastern North America in general, but chiefly the Atlantic coast; rare in the in- 

 terior, or away from salt water; breeds in hyperborean latitudes. Palaearctic Region. 



SP. CHAR. Adult (No. 63,616, New York market: J. H. BATTY). Head, neck, and chest 

 continuous black, the anterior portion of the head having a brownish cast; posterior out- 

 line of the black on the chest very regular and sharply-defined against the brownish gray 

 of the breast. Middle of the neck with a transverse crescentic patch of white on each side, 

 formed of white tips and sub-tips of the feathers, the black showing through in places so 

 as to form oblique lines. Above, smoky-slate, the fea hers distincly bordered termi- 

 nally with a much paler and more brownish shade. Wings like the back, but with a some- 

 what less brownish cast, the paler margins nearly obsolete. Sceondaries blackish brown; 

 primaries brownish black. Tail uniform black, but almost concealed by the snow-white 

 lengthened coverts, the upper of which, however, are invaded by a median stripe of black- 

 ish brown from the rump. Breast, abdomen, sides, and flanks much like the upper parts, 

 but the light tips to the feathers whiter, broader, and more conspicuous ; anal region and 

 crissum immaculate pure white. Wing, 12.30 inches; culmen, 1.20; tarsus, 2.05; middle toe, 

 1.70. 



Young (No. 12,786, Washington, D. C., December, 1858: C. DREXLER). Similar to the 

 adult, but the wing-coverts and secondaries broadly tipped with pure white, forming very 

 conspicuous bars. Lower parts paler and more uniform; white on middle of the neck re- 

 duced to small specks. 



The Brant is chiefly a salt-water species, and therefore not 

 often seen in the interior, though, as Professor Cooke, in his 

 "Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley" (p. 78) has correctly 

 stated, "there is much uncertainty in using the records concern- 

 ing this species, because it is so commonly confounded with the 

 Snow Goose, which is locally known as Brant all through the 

 West. From the few records that can be depended on it would 

 seem to have migrated at about the same time as Branta can- 

 adensis." 



Professor Cooke says that "during the winter of 1883-84 this 

 species was represented from Illinois southward by a few rare 



