Interior of British North America. 143 



plumage has a large admixture of white ; but what establishes it 

 as an accidental variety is, that the number of white quill- 

 feathers is unequal in the two wings, and there are five white 

 tail-feathers on one side, and eight on the other. 



Bernicla hutchinsii. 



This, I suppose, we must allow as a species, as Prof. Baird 

 places a specimen from Red River Settlement under the name, 

 while Mr. Murray records it from Hudson^s Bay, and Mr. Ross 

 from the Mackenzie, where he found it breeding. Mr. Barnston 

 remarks on their late arrival in spring (' Ibis,' vol. ii. p. 255), 

 and mentions that they go north in distinct flocks. This seems 

 to agree with my informant, mentioned in the foregoing para- 

 graph, who may have mistaken the species, I measured an indi- 

 vidual on the Lower Saskatchawan in September, which, although 

 I was assured by an Indian it was the young of B. canadensis, I 

 took to be B. hutchinsii : it was 27^ in. in total length ; 16i in. 

 in thawing; bill along the ridge l^in.; upper tail-coverts from 

 the end of the tail, 2iin.; nail of the upper mandible dark 

 brown, lower horn-colour; bill, legs, and feet black, when 

 fresh, but became lighter some time after death. Also another 

 at Fort Carlton, late in May, measured 27| in. and 14i in., and 

 bill 1| in. : it was a female ; but none of the ova showed any ap- 

 pearance of developing. 



I cannot include Mr. Cassin's Pacific bird B. leucopareia in 

 this paper, which treats only of such as are found on the eastern 

 side of the Rocky Mountains. 



Bernicla barnstonii? (Ross). 



" This bird was shot at Fort Simpson (on the Mackenzie). 

 It is of very large size, with the breast of a bright fawn- 

 colour. The delta of feathers running up into the lower man- 

 dible is white, instead of black, as in B. canadensis. The tail is 

 of sixteen feathers. The Indians consider it a distinct species 

 from the Canada Goose. It seldom flies in parties of more than 

 five or six.'' (Bernard Ross, 'Nat. Hist. Rev.' July 1862, 

 p. 28). It is with much gratification that I am able to tran- 

 scribe the above notice of this new and large species of Goose ; 

 for, during the latter part of my stay in the northern interior of 



