Brant Goose 71 



by a black patch, and a more or less distinct white half collar on the 

 lower-neck ; tail with foivrteen or sixteen feathers ; size smaller even 

 than B. c. hutchinsi. Length 23'25 ; wing 14-0 ; culmen 1-0 ; tarsus 2-6. 



Distribution — Breeding in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands ; in 

 winter from southern British Columbia to southern California ; else- 

 where a wanderer. 



The Cackling Goose is a rare straggler to Colorado. One specimen 

 only has been identified (Cooke) ; this was shot near Loveland, April 

 10th, 1898, by Mr. J. F. Campion, and is now in the State collection 

 in the Capitol at Denver. 



This example appears to me to be more properly referable to 

 Hutchins's Goose than to this species. It is the only definite record. 



Brant. Branta bernicla glaucogastra. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 173— Colorado Records— Thome 87, p 264 ; 

 Cooke 97, p. 59. 



Description. — Adult — Head, throat, neck and upper-breast black ; 

 a little white mottling on the sides of the neck ; back brownish-grey 

 margined with hghter ; longer lateral upper tail-coverta white ; lower- 

 breast ashy-grey, fading to white on the abdomen, darker on the 

 sides ; iris brown, bill and feet black Length 24-0 ; wing IS-O ; tail 

 4-5 ; culmen 1-35 ; tarsus 2-25. 



Young birds are very similar, but have less white on the sides of the 

 neck and the wing-coverts and secondaries are white tipped. 



Distribution. — Breeding on the west coast of Greenland, and as 

 far north as land extends ; south in winter to the Atlantic coast from 

 New Jersey to Florida ; a straggler only elsewhere. 



There is only one recorded notice of the occurrence of the Brant in 

 Colorado. Captain Thome shot a specimen at Fort Lyon, April 11th, 

 1883. Though not preserved, there can be little doubt about its 

 identification. 



Subfamily CYGNIN^E. 



The Swans resemble the Geese, having reticulate tarsi, 

 a simple unlobed hallux and sexes alike ; they are dis- 

 tinguished from them by their long necks, and by having 

 the lores between the eye and the bill naked and without 

 feathers — at least in the adults. 



Genus OLOR. 



In addition to the above-mentioned characters, the prevailing 

 colour of the plvmiage is white, and normally the trachea is prolonged 

 and coiled in a cavity in the sternum. 



Several species in the northern hemisphere and South America. 



