116 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



night and killed by sticks! There is a fine, full plumaged adult in the 

 collection of the Marsli Club at Monroe, Michigan, killed there. Mr. B. H. 

 Swales says that one was shot by Mr. A. Ralph, November 16, 1888 on Lake 

 St. Clair, near the mouth of the Thames, and is preserved in London, 

 Ontario (MS. List, 1904). We have an adult mounted specimen (No. 

 6560) in the college museum, taken on Loon Lake, Greenville, Michigan, 

 April 30, 1895, and another specimen (No. 3574) immature, which probably 

 is local but unfortunately has no record. There are also two, one adult 

 and one immature, in the Kent Scientific Museum, Grand Rapids, but 

 without data. Taverner records one killed at St. Clair Flats early in April 

 1909. 



These geese are similar in habits in the main to the Canada Goose, but 

 are said to migrate by night, as well as by day, and to fly in less regular 

 flocks, seldom in the characteristic v-shaped flocks so common with that 

 species. The nest and eggs are unknown. 



In common with the snow geese they are known to sportsmen and 

 gunners generally under the name of "Brant," the adult of the former 

 being generally called White Brant, while the young of that species and 

 both old and young of the present species are confounded under the common 

 name of Black Brant. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Entire head and neck all round pure white; chest and base of neck brownish 

 black, the feathers edged with ashy; breast, sides, back, scapulars and tertiaries brownish 

 edged with ashy, the inner scapulars and tertiaries edged with white and with somewhat 

 darker shaft stripes; belly and under tail-coverts white; back, rump, and upper tail- coverts 

 bluish gray to nearly white; wings with the primaries slaty blue to black, tlie secondaries 

 mainly black, the coverts blue gray; tail pale brownish gray, each feather tipped and 

 margined with white. Bill purplish red, the gaping fissure along the sides black; legs 

 and feet purplish red; iris brown. Sexes alike. Iinmature: Described by Ridgway as 

 "similar to the adult, but head and neck miiform deep grayish brown, only the chin being 

 white." A specimen in our collection (No. 3574), however, has the back, wings and tail 

 almost like those of the adult, but the head, neck and scapulars brownish gray with a 

 bluish cast, darkest on back of the neck; the breast and most of the under parts light 

 slaty blue with a brownish cast; the chin white. 



Length 2G.50 to 30 inches; wing 15 to 17; culmen 2.10 to 2.30; tarsus 3 to 3.30. 



60. White-fronted Goose. Anser albifrons gambeli (IlariL). (171a) 



Synonyms: American White-fronted Goose, Prairie Brant, Speckled-belly, Speckled 

 Brant. — Anser gambclli, Hartlaub, 1852. — Anser albifrons, Bonap., 1828, Nutt., Aud. 

 and others. — Anser albifrons var. gambeli, Coues, 1872, 



The adult is known at once by its pure white face or "mask" (whence the 

 name "White-fronted") in strong contrast with the dark gray-brown of 

 the rest of the head and neck. 



Distribution. — North America (rare on the Atlantic Coast), breeding 

 far northward; in winter south to Cape St. Lucas, Mexico and Cuba. 



This is an extremely rare bird in the state and probably can be classed 

 only as a straggler. Mcllwraith states that he has a bird in his collection 

 taken at St. Clair Flats (Birds of Ontario, 1894, p. 97), and Mr. J. H. 

 Fleming, of Toronto, Ontario, writes under date of March 8, 1906 "There 

 is in the collection of Toronto University a mounted White-fronted Goose, 

 taken by the late Dr. Garnier of Lucknow, Ont., probably at Mitchell's 

 Bay, Lake St. Clair." In the Barron collection at Niles, Michigan, I 

 found an adult in good i)lumage, marked "Brant," but without 

 any locality label. In all probability, however, it was local. It occurs 



