ANSERINE — THE GEESE — CHEN. 



437 



times reaches to the crown. The bright orange-rufous tinge to the anterior portion of the head 

 being an artificial stain, is frequently entirely absent. The color of the abdomen also varies from 

 nearly pure white to a tint hardly paler than the breast ; the rump is also sometimes, but rarely, 

 entirely white, while occasionally white feathers are irregularly interspersed among the dark 

 feathers of tl)e body. 



In both the adult and young stages of this Goose the plumage is so very distinct from that of 

 C. hiiperhoreus that there is no occasion for confounding the two when the points of distinction are 

 understood. We are unable, however, to 

 find the slightest difference in the details 

 of form or in proportions — a fact which 

 suggests the mere possibility of their Ije- 

 ing white and colored phases of the same 

 species, as in some Herons ; but we do 

 not consider this as at all probable, al- 

 though in view of their similarity of form 

 and size, and that the chief variations 

 are a tendency toward partial albinism,^ 

 the possibility of such a relationship 

 should be borne in mind. 



This form, once supposed to be 

 the young of the Snow Goose, is 

 now regarded as an entirely good 

 and distinct species. Mr. G. Barns- 

 ton, in his valuable paper on the 

 Geese of Hudson's Bay, referring 

 to the prevalent supposition that 

 this species and the A. hyjoerboreus 

 are mere varieties, because of the 

 friendly intercourse that exists be- 

 tween them, is positive that this 

 belief is not well founded. The 

 young of the hyperhoreus arrive 

 from the north with their parents 

 without any intermixture of other 

 Geese in their flocks. They have 

 the same white garb as the old birds, 

 but with their heads as if soiled 

 with iron-rust, and with a bill, ten- 

 der, soft, and compressible. On the other hand, the cceridescens comes down upon 

 the eastern coast also in perfectly distinct flocks, the young birds having a more 



1 A specimen figured in the " Transactions " of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Vol. I. 1869, pi. 18, 

 has the Avhole under parts, posterior to the jugulum, pure white. We have also seen examples in which 

 not only the abdomen, but also the rump, was white ; while, as noted above, white feathers are sometimes 

 interspersed irregularly in the dark [ilumage of the body. There is also something very " unsatisfactory " 

 or suspicious in the irregular, variable, and undecided waj' in which the white of the neck joins upon the 

 dark color below it. 



Mr. E, W. Nelson, of Chicago, who has enjoyed the advantage of inspecting very numerous specimens 

 in the markets of that great game centre, writes as follows (Bull. "Nutt. Orn. Club," VIII. 1876, p. 137) 

 with regard to the changes of plumage in this species : — 



"The adults of this species invariably possess the white head and upper part of the neck, which in 

 the j'ounger specimens is more or less variegated with dark feathers. These disappear as the bird becomes 

 older ; and in many the head is a pure snowy white, in sliarj) contrast to the dark plumage of the rest of 



