68 Birds of Colorado 



Ross's Snow-Goose is a rare straggler in Colorado, and has only 

 once been recorded. A male specimen was shot on December 23rd, 

 1906, at the Kennicott Club Lake, near Longmont, by Capt. Eli, 

 U.S.A., and is now in the Colorado Museum of Natural History at 

 Denver. It was associating with a flock of Mallards at the time. 



Genus ANSER. 



Resembling Chen but with a somewhat weaker bill, the depth of 

 which is less than half the culmen, and with the lamellse somewhat 

 less exposed ; plumage never extensively white. 



Confined to the Northern Hemisphere with only one North American 

 species. 



American White-fronted Goose. Anser albifrons gambeli. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 171a— Colorado Records— Ridgway 79, p. 233 ; 

 Morrison 89, p. 165 ; Cooke 97, pp. 58, 196 ; Felger 09, p. 283. 



Description. — Male — Anterior part of the face and forehead white, 

 bordered by dusky ; rest of the head and neck, shoulders and chest 

 dark grey ; back dusky grey ; upper tail-coverts white ; below black 

 or spotted with black, becoming white on the under tail-coverts ; iris 

 dark brown, bill j pink and yellow with the nail white, feet yellow. 

 Length 28-0 ; wing 170 ; tail 5-5 culmen 2-0 ; tarsus 3-0. 



The female is rather smaller. A young bird is rather darker and 

 has no white on the face or black on the under-parts ; bill, including 

 the nail, dusky. 



Distribution. — Breeding on the coast of Alaska and Yukon, and 

 wintering in the southern half of the United States, and further south 

 to Cuba and northern Mexico. 



The White-fronted Goose is hardly known in Colorado. There 

 was an example in Mrs. Maxwell's collection probably from Colorado, 

 and there is a specimen in the Carter collection from Middle Park, 

 where Carter reports he has seen it on occasions in considerable nvimbers. 

 Hersey h£is observed it once or twice at Barr, and Felger reports one 

 killed near Masters on the South Platte, March 25th, 1903. 



Genus BRANT A. 



Bill rather short ; lamellae of upper mandible quite hidden ; bill 

 and feet entirely black ; head partly or wholly black. 



The Northern Hemisphere with three species in North America. 



Key of the Species. 



A. A white cheek-patch on the black head. 

 a. Larger ; wing over 17 ; 18 — 20 tail-feathers. 



B. canadensis, p. 69. 



