1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES ^N^ATIONAL MUSEUM. 383 



coidal head of the furcula develops on its outer side a massive eularge- 

 meut supportiug au elliptical facet directed backwards for articulation 

 with a similar facet oa the frout part of the head of the corresponding 

 coracoid. 



A coracoid is peculiar in having the outer moiety of its expanded 

 sternal extremity not adapted to the sternum by articulating in a 

 groove. 



The mesial moieties of these parts of the coracoids are very amply 

 provided for, however, in this particular, and rest in extensive articular 

 excavations intended for them. The sternum is without a manubrium, 

 and the coracoidal grooves do not meet in the middle line. 



The sl-ull of Chloepliaga poUocepliala. — Under the article "Goose," 

 in the ninth edition of the Eucyclo[»a.Hlia Britannica, Prof. Alfred I^ew- 

 ton tells us that " The southern portions of the New World are inhab- 

 ited by about half a dozen species of geese, * * * separated as the 

 genus Ghloephaga. The most noticeable of these are the Kock or Kelp 



2. Eight lateral view of the skull of Cfilcepfiaga polioeephala cT- Drawn lifo-sizo hy the author from 

 a apocimen collected in the Straits of Magellan by Thos. H. Streets, TJ. S. Navy. I, lacrymal ; mxp, 

 maxillo-palatiue ; v, vomer ; pi, palatine ; pt, pterygoid. 



Goose, G. antarctica^ and the Upland Goose, C. magcllanica. In both of 

 these the sexes are totally unlike in color, the male being nearly white 

 while the female is of a mottled brown, but in others a greater similarity 

 obtains." 



This is all the literature that I have at hand at the present writing in 

 regard to these birds, and although I am familiar with C.mageUanica, 

 I do not recall the species G.poUocepliala^ unless indeed it be another 

 name for the same Goose. 



In general form these skulls differ considerably from the skulls of our 

 Bernicia or Branta, as they are* now known, and rather seem to slightly 

 apiiroach the skulls of some of the Ducks in certain characteristics. 



Viewed from above, we find the supra-oi'bital glandular depressions 

 unusually well marked for an anserine bird, and they are separated in 

 the median line by about 3""^' ; being rather more than this in the fe- 

 male si)ecimeu. 



