CANADA GOOSE. 615 



the tip ; the marginal lamellae short, about thirty on each side 

 in both mandibles ; the upper unguis obovate, convex, denti- 

 culate on the inner edge ; the lower unguis roundish, slightly 

 convex ; the feet short, stout, placed rather back ; the tarsi 

 reticulated ; the toes scutellate only toward the end ; the 

 claws small, arched, rather compressed. 



The plumage is close, compact on the upper part, blended 

 on the neck and lower parts ; the wings, which are of mode- 

 rate length, extend when closed to about an inch from the end 

 of the tail ; the second quill longest ; the tail very short, 

 rounded, of eighteen stiff, rounded, acuminate feathers. 



The bill, feet, and claws, black. Head and two-thirds of 

 the neck, glossy black ; forehead, cheeks, and throat, tinged 

 with brown ; a broad band of white across the throat to 

 behind the eyes ; lower eyelid white ; upper parts greyish- 

 brown, shaded with ash-grey on the wing-coverts ; all the 

 feathers margined with very pale brown ; rump and tail 

 black ; lower parts greyish-white ; the sides pale-brownish- 

 grey ; the feathers terminally margined with white ; abdomen 

 pure white ; as are the sides of the rump and the upper tail- 

 coverts. 



At page 607 of the fifth volume of Audubon's Ornitholo- 

 gical Biography, is a short account of the digestive and respi- 

 ratory organs, derived from the dissection of a specimen 

 brought from Boston. I have there shown that the stomach 

 and intestines differ in no essential respect from those of the 

 Swans ; that the sternum also is very similar ; that the 

 trachea " at first inclines a little to the left side, then on the 

 anterior concave curve of the neck passes gradually to the 

 right side, along which it proceeds as far as the lower part of 

 the convex curve, when it separates in front from the neck, 

 and forms a loop or abrupt curve, which is attached to the 

 anterior part of the sternum, between the coracoid bones, 

 thus approximating to the trachea of the Swans, but not 

 entering the crest of the sternum. It then passes directly 

 along the spine to behind the middle of the heart, where it 

 bifurcates. In this respect also it is singular, in being more 

 elongated than in the other species, of which the bifurcation 

 is considerably anterior to the heart. At the commencement 



