902 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES— ANSERES. 



dusky, more or less speckled with white. Length 25.00-28.00 5 extent 48.00-56.00; wing- 

 15.00-17.00; tail 5.00-G.OO; bill 1.50; tarsus 3.00. Northwest coast ; abundant at mouth of 

 Yukon ; wintering chietly in southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, but sometimes reaching 

 California; breeding N. to Bering Strait at least; also on the Siberian side. A remarkable 

 species, unlike any other Groose of our country; strictly maritime. Its flesh is rank, scarcely fit 

 for food. Eggs 5-8, 3.00-3.25 X 2.00-2.25, M'hite, generally with stains, giving a pale dirty- 

 brown color, laid in June. Best biography in Nelson's Alaska, 1887, p. 89, colored pi. 4. 

 BKAN'TA. (Corrupted, as by ScOPOLi, 1769, from Gr. ^pevBo^ or ^piv6os, brentJios or brin- 

 tlios, Aristotelian name of an unknown bird; name ccn-rected Brenthus by SuNU. Tent. 1873, 

 p. 145. This is the genus Bernicla Steph. 1824, ex Briss. 1760, as Latinized by Gesner, 

 1555, from English barnacle. The name " barnacle" commemorates the fable that these birds 

 sprouted from the little cirripeds called barnacles. " Brent " or " brant" is of uncertain ety- 

 mological relation to Brenthus, and commonly supposed to mean simply " burnt " goose, from 

 the dark color, as if branded or charred.) Barnacle Geese. Brant Geese. Black 

 Geese. Brant. Bill short, small, the nail prominent from depression of culmen behind it ; 

 nostrils at its middle. Laminae of bill not exposed except just at base, the commissure being 

 straight and not bevelled ofi". Head and neck black, with white spaces; upper and under tail- 

 coverts white. Bill and feet black. Hind toe very small. Tail of 14-20, usually 16-18 feath- 

 ers. Sexes alike. Several species, of both hemispheres. (Bernicla is the name I used for 

 this genus in 2d-4th eds. of the Key ; but I now follow the A. 0. U. in reverting to Branta of 

 the original edition of the Key, 1872.) 



Analysis of Species and Subspecies. 



Forehead, cheeks, and cliin white. (European.) leucopsis 



Forehead, cheeks, and chin black ; white stripes on neck. 



Black of neck well defined against light lower parts b. glaucof^astra 



Black of neck extending over breast n iqricans 



Forehead black ; cheeks and chin white ; no white stripes on neck. 

 Tail normally 18-20-feathered. Large. 



No white collar in black of lower neck canadensis 



A white collar in black of lower neck c. occidentalis 



Tail normally IC-feathered. Small. 



No white collar in black of lower neck (usually) c. hutchinsi 



Tail normally 14-lG- feathered. Smallest. 



A white collar in black of lower neck c. minima 



B. levicop'sis. (Gr. XevKos, leucos, white; oyl^is, ojjsis, appearance: the face white.) Bar- 

 nacle Goose. Barnicle. Bernicle. Bernacle. Claris. Tail normally of 16 feathers. 

 Adult (J 9: Bill, feet, and claws black. Iris hazel-brown. Front and sides of head and chin 

 white, with a dark line at base of bill, and thence to eye. Rest of head and neck all around 

 black, prolonged on back and fore breast ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and inner secondaries gray, 

 with subterminal black crescents and edged with whitish ; rump and tail black. Upper and 

 under tail-coverts, sides of rump, belly, and hind breast, white or whitish, the sides shaded 

 with gray. Quills dusky, blackening at ends, tinged on exptjsed surfaces with ashy. Soxes 

 similar; 9 duller colored than ^. Young: White of face speckled with black, and general 

 plumage suffused with rufous-brown, more or less marked according to age. Downy young 

 are gray above, whitish behiw. Length of ^ 28.00; extent 55.00; wing 17.00; tail 6.00; 

 bill 1.50 ; tarsus 2.75; nuddle toe and claw the same. 9 much smaller; both sexes very 

 variable. Europe ; very rare and casual in North America excepting Greenland, where reg- 

 ular. (Hudson's Bay, Am. Nat. ii, 1868, p. 49. N. Carolina, Am. Nat. v, 1871, p. 10. 

 Long Island, Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, 1877, p. 18. Illinois, Forest and Stream, Nov. 23, 1876.) 

 (Bernicla leucopsis of 2d-4th eds. of Key.) 



