98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADExMY OF 



Hudson's Bay territory. The females at no time of tlie year 

 differ mucli from L. mutiis, but, so far as I know, the males never 

 in spring assume or attempt to assume a black breast — the color 

 of the new spring feathers upon that part being always a dark 

 (blackish if you like) lirown, but mottled and freckled with 7n(st 

 color. In this stage the bird has none of the fresh look which 

 the brilliant contrast of the pure black and white gives to L. mu- 

 tus ^ . The autumnal plumage of the ? rujtestris I have never 

 been able to make out satisfactorily ; but I have seme reason to 

 think that it is not of the generally clear ashy-gray hue that that 

 of mufus is. This is a i)oint I want especially to be informed 

 upon. They send many skins from Greenland, which I susjject are 

 autumnal birds, but the men are content to mark them " Sommer." 

 I have autumnal females from Iceland, where the orange-yellow of 

 the spring is fast giving way to the white of winter, without the 

 intervention of any autumnal gray. What the Icelandic J" does 

 at the same time I do not know ; I did not stay long enough in 

 Iceland to find out, and the specimens I desired to be sent to me 

 are all apparcntl}^ females. That L.,idandorum and L. reinhardti 

 are identical, I tliink there can be no doubt, and I cannot conceive 

 why Brehm ever invented the latter. That islandoi'um and hemi- 

 leucurus (from Spitzbergen) are the same, I also strongly opine,^ 

 and if I could only get tlie latter to comiiare witli my skins of the 

 former, I think I could settle the question, but it is rare. 



I yesterday received from Malmgren a copy of a paper by him 

 in the "Notiser ur Siillskapets pro Fauna et Flora Fcnnica For- 

 handlingar" for 1869, containing remarks upon the Finnish and 

 Scandinavian geese {Anseridae he calls them). I am delighted to 

 see that he has come to my opinion on several points where we 

 were at issue. Of the genus Chen I can tell you nothing. Of 

 true Anser we havej^ue European species: — 



1. A. /e?'us (Linn.), (^. cinerstts, Meyer), with a white " nail" to 

 the bill, and light gray carpal feathers. 



2. A. segetum (Gmel.), with a black nail to the long bill, dark 

 brownish-gray carpal feathers, and orange-red legs. 



3. A. hrachyy-hynchus, Baillon (A. plxo3nicoims^ Bartlett), with 

 a black nail to the short bill, gray (but not so light as in !N^o. 1) 

 carpal feathers, and pink legs. 



1 P. S. 6 May, 1871. But see preceding note. 



[July 4, 



