FAM. L. DUCES, GEESE, AND SWANS 



281 



Snow Goose (169*. C. h. nivalis) is like the last, but much larger. 

 Length, 28-38 ; wing, 17-19 ; tail, 6^ ; tarsus, 3-3^ ; culmen, 2^-2f . 

 North America ; breeding far north, and wintering from Maryland to 

 Cuba. Rare on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia. 



4. Blue Goose (169-1. Chen ccendescens). — A brownish-gray 

 goose, with the head and upper neck white, and the middle and 

 lower neck blackish. The lower belly is a light gray, or some- 

 times almost white. The wing coverts have almost no whitish 

 margins. The young has the head and neck grayish-brown, 

 with only the chin Avhite. 



Length, 2G-30 ; wing, 15-17 ; tail, 5^ ; tarsus, Z\ ; culmen, 2^. Interior 

 of North America ; breeding on eastern shores, Hudson Bay, and wintering 

 on the Gulf coast. Rare on the Atlantic coast. 



5. American White-fronted Goose (171*. Anser dlhifrons gdm- 

 heli). — A large, 

 brown-necked, gray- 

 backed, white-bellied 

 goose, with a white 

 forehead on an oth- 

 erwise brown head. 

 The nearly Avhite 

 breast is peculiarly 

 blotched Avith black. 

 The young lacks the 

 white forehead and 

 the black breast 

 blotches. Although 

 rare on the Atlantic 

 coast, these geese are 

 common from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, mainly 

 in low, bushy, or wooded regions. 



Length, 27-30; wing, 141 171 ; tail, 5J ; tarsus, 2|-3i ; cuhuen,lf-2i. 

 North America ; breeding in the Arctic regions, and wintering south to 

 Mexico and Cuba. 



6. Canada Goose (172. Brdnta canadensis). — A common, very 

 large, grayish-brown-bodied, black-necked, black-tailed goose, 



American White-fronted Goose 



