116 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



European species or race resembling A. albifrons, but much 

 smaller, seems to bear to the latter about the same relation 

 which Branta JmtcMnsii or B. minima do to B. canadensis. 



Anser albifrons gambeli (Hartl.) 



AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Popular lynonyms. Brant; Speckle-belly; Laughing Goose; Pied Brant; Speckled Brant; 

 Gray Brant; Harlequin Brant; Prairie Brant or Goose; Yellow-legged Brant or 

 Goose; Ansar salvage {Mexico). 



Anser albifrons Bonap. Synop. 1828, 376.— Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii. 1831, 466— Nutt. Man. ii, 



1834, 346— Aud. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 568, pi. 286; Synop. 1839, 272; B. Am. vi, 1843, 209, 



pi. 380, 



Anser gambeli Haktlaub, Rev. et Mag. Zool.1852, 7.— Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 761; Cat. N. 



Am. B. 1859, No. 565. 



Anser albifrons, var, gambeli Coues, Key, 1872, 282; Check List, 1873. No. 487; B. N. W . 



1874, 546. 

 Anser albijrons b. gambeli B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am, i, 1884, 448. 



Anser albifrons gambeli Ridgw. Proc.U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880,203; Nom.N. Am. B.1881, No. 

 593 a; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 116-Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 693- A. O. U. 

 Check List, 1886, No. 171 a. 

 Anser erythropus Baird, Stansbury's Rep. 1852, 321 Jnec Linn.). 



Anser frontalis Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 562 (= young; New Mexico) ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 

 566. 

 Hab. The whole of North America, breeding far northward; Cuba. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Prevailing color brownish gray, this uniform on the head and neck, 

 and becoming much darker on the flanks; feathers of mantle, wings, sides, and flanks dis- 

 tinctly bordered terminally with pale brownish gray (sometimes approaching grayish 

 white); upper edges of the upper layer of flank- feathers pure white, producing a conspicu- 

 ous white stripe when the feathers are properly adjusted. Breast and abdomen grayish 

 white, mixed more or less with irregular spots and patches of black, sometimes scattered 

 and isolated, but often more or less confluent. Anal region, crissum, and upper tail-coverts 

 immaculate pure white; rump brownish slate; greater wing-coverts glaucous gray tipped 

 with white; secondaries black, their edges narrowly white; primaries slaty black, growing 

 ashy basally; primary-coverts glaucous-gray. Tail brownish slate, broadly tipped with 

 white, the feathers narrowly edged with the same. Front of the head, from the base of the 

 bill to about half way across the lores and ' forehead, including the anterior border of the 

 chin, white, bordered behind by brownish black, which gradually fades into the grayish 

 bro\wn of the head and neck. Bill reddish (waxy-yellow, fide Nelson), the nail white; feet 

 reddish.* Young (= A. frontalis Baird): Nearly similar to the adult, but the anterior 

 portion of the head dark brown, instead of white; wing-coverts less glaucous; black 

 blotches of the under surface absent. Nail of the bill black. Downy young: Above, olive- 

 green; beneath, dingy greenish yellow, deepest yellow on the abdomen. (Hardly distin- 

 guishable trom young of Branta canadensis, but apparently more deeply colored, and 

 with greater contrast between color of upper and lower surfaces). 



Total length, about 27.00—30.00 inches ; extent, about 60.00; wing, 14.25—17.50 ; culmen, 1. 10— 

 2.35; tarsus. 2.60—3.20; middle toe, 2.35-2.70. Tail-feathers 16 to 18. usually the former. 



The principal variation among individuals of this species is 

 in the amount of the black blotching on the lower parts. In 



♦"Color of bill varying with different specimens, from flesh-color and yellowish, to darker 

 and more reddish tint; the nail at end white or nearly so. Legs and feet orange, the 

 webs lighter, and claws white." (Gurdon Trumbull, Names and Portraits of Birds, p. 11. 



