32 tr.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 221 



Order ANSERIFORMES: Ducks, Geese, Swans 



Family ANATIDAE: Ducks, Geese, Swans 

 Genus CHEN Boie 



Aiiser albatus Cassin 



Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 8: 41 (not earlier than February 



26), 1856. 

 =^Chen hyperborea (Pallas). See Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water 



birds of North America 1 (Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. 12) : 439, 1884. 

 10403. Adult (sex not indicated). Oregon. Original number 661. 



U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) . 

 Cassin based his new form on USNM 10403 and four others bought in 

 the Philadelphia market; the five are cotypes, but Stone (Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, p. 23, 1899) claims ANS 6045 as the type. If one speci- 

 men has a claim above that of the others to be considered the type, tlie bird 

 here listed may well be the one. While Cassin (U.S. Exploring Expedition 

 8: 333, 1858) says of the species "first described by us from specimens 

 obtained on the coast of New Jersey," he states further that No. 10403 

 "appears to be ... a male in nearly adult plumage," and the measure- 

 ments of our bird agree exactly with those given for the male at Cassin's 

 original description. 

 Anser Rossii "Baird" Cassin 



Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 73 (not earlier than Mar. 26), 



1861. 

 =Chen rossii ( Cassin ) . See Peters, Checklist of birds of the world 1 : 146, 



1931. 

 20131. Adult female. Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake at the mouth 



of the Great Slave River, District of Mackenzie, Northwest Territories, 



Canada. May 29, 1860. Collected by Robert W. Kennicott. Original 



number 571. 

 In the original sending were "head, wings, tail & legs, & also one nearly 

 perfect skin" {fide Richmond MS.). The odd parts were entered into the 

 register as Nos. 20132-20135 and have all long since been distributed or 

 destroyed. The skin, No. 20131, was sent to the Chicago Academy of Sci- 

 ences on January 28, 1881, and was returned to the U.S. National Museum 

 in 1919. Its original label has been lost, but the old Smithsonian exhibition 

 label still exists, as does a data-bearing fragment (now attached to the right 

 tarsus) of the wooden stand upon which the bird was mounted. These show 

 that the specimen for many years masqueraded under the number "20130" 

 and was supposed to have come from "Ft. Resolution, Salt Lake." 



