HYPOTHETICAL LIST. 741 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: "Head, neck, chest, scapulars, and wings (except quills) white; rest of 

 plumage, including stripe on top of head and broad ring around neck, deep black; stiffened 

 feathers of cheeks brownish white. Adult female: Uniform brownish gray, the wmgs 

 more plumbeous; tertials silvery gray, edged with blackish; secondaries white, primaries 

 dusky. Young male: Similar to adult female, but chin and throat white, and white 

 chest of adult male strongly indicated; greater wing-coverts white. Length 18 to 23.73, 

 wing 8.50 to 8.90, culmen 1.60 to 1.70 inches" (Ridgway). 



Greater Snow Goose. Chen hyperboreus nivalis (Forst). (169a) 



Similar to the Lesser Snow Goose, but averaging decidedly larger. 



If this bird occurs at all in Michigan it must be merely as a straggler. 

 While it is stated that the range during winter is from the Atlantic coast 

 to the Mississippi Valley, we have no unquestionable record for Michigan, 

 or in fact for neighboring parts of the Great Lake region. It is believed 

 to nest in the far north, east of the Mackenzie Basin, but its nest and egg 

 appear to be unknown, and the nesting grounds as stated above seem to 

 be rather an inference than a known fact. 



There seem to be slight differences in shape of the bill in the two forms, 

 but they are most readily discriminated by their measurements, the present 

 form being decidedly larger than the Lesser Snow Goose. 



White-cheeked Goose. Branta canadensis occidentalis (Baird). (172b) 



This is a variety or geographical race of the Canada Goose, belonging 

 properly on the Pacific coast from Sitka to California, and its presence in 

 Michigan is extremely inprobable. It rests solely on the statement of 

 the late W. H. Collins of Detroit, that he had seen specimens which were 

 taken at St. Clair Flats. He was very likely mistaken, at all events there 

 are no specimens or other evidence to confirm his statement. 



Cackling Goose. Branta canadensis minima Ridgw. (172c) 



This is another northwestern coast subspecies whose breeding ground 

 is in Alaska, but which during migration sometimes straggles into the 

 Mississippi Valley. Like the preceding its place in the Michigan list 

 rests only on the word of the late W. H. Colhns, who was probably mistaken 

 in his identification. According to Dr. Gib]3S, and some other writers, 

 the name Cackling Goose is commonly used for the Snow Goose, and it is 

 not impossible that Collins merely intended to record the capture of the 

 Snow Goose under this name. 



Black Brant. Branta nigricans {Lawrence). (174) 



Similar to the common l']astcrn lirant, {B. h. glaucogasira) Init has white 

 streaks or flecks on the front as well as sides of neck, forming a white 

 collar in the adult; also much darker below than the Eastern foi-m. 



This is a bird of the western shore of the continent, breeding in Alaska 

 and western Arctic America and ranging south in winter along the entire 

 California coast. Its presence anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains 

 is entirely accidental, and it is extremely unlikely that it ever has been 

 seen in Michigan. 



The occasional roforoncos to Black Brant by contril^itoi-s to sporting 



