482 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



ANSER HTPERBOEEUS. — Prt?te. 



The Snow Goose. 



Anser hyperhoreus, Pallas. Spic. Zool., VI. (1767) 25. Nutt. Man., II. 344. 

 Aud. Om. Biog., IV. (1838) 562. lb., Birds Am., VL (184.3) 212. 

 Anas hjperborea. Gm., L 504. Wils. Am. Cm., VIIL (1814) 76. 



Description. 



Adult. — Bill and legs red; color pure-white; primary quills black towards the 

 end. silvery-bluish graj' towards the base, where the shafts ai'e white ; the spurious 

 quills are also bluish; inside of wings, except primary quills, white; immature birds 

 have the head washed with rustj'. 



Young. — Head and upper part of neck white; lower part of neck to the wings 

 dark-brown, passing on the sides of bod3Mnto a more ashy shade; rest of under 

 parts, concealed portions of the back, rump, and upper coverts, white ; the entire 

 scapular and scapular region is ashy-brown, each feather with faint reddish-brown 

 margin ; the upper surface of the wing is of a clear silvery-ash, but passing into dark- 

 brown on the ends of the quills; the coverts, secondaries, tertials, and scapulars, 

 edged with white; iris light-brown. 



Length, about thirty inches; wing, sixteen and forty one-hnndredths; tarsus, 

 three and twelve one-hundredths; commissure, two and ten one-hundredths inches. 



This is another rare species on our New-England sea- 

 coast. As a general thing, it is only seen during the winter ; 

 but we have, in the Massachusetts State Cabinet, a fine speci- 

 men that was taken in Boston Harbor, in July, 1863. It is 

 strictly a northern species, and hardly belongs to our fauna. 



Dr. Richardson, in describing its breeding habits, says, 

 " It breeds in the barren grounds of Arctic America, in 

 great numbers. The eggs, of a yellowish-white color and 

 regularly ovate form, are a little larger than those of the 

 Eider Duck; their length being three inches, and their 

 greatest breadth two. The young fly in August ; and, by 

 the middle of September, all have departed to the south- 

 ward. The Snow Goose feeds on rushes, insects, and in 

 autumn on berries, particularly those of the Empetrum 

 nigrum.''^ 



BERNICLA, Stephens. 



Bernicla, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool., XII. (1824) 45. (Tj^ie Anas ber- 

 nicla, L.) 



Bill about as long as head or shorter; the commissure nearly straight; the teeth 

 of upper mandible concealed, except perhaps at the base ; bill and legs black. 



