264 ANATID^. 



In North America there is a White-fronted or Laugh- 

 ing Goose, described and tigured by Edwards, from a 

 specimen brought from Hudson's Bay ; and to this specific 

 rank has been accorded under the name of A. gamheli. So 

 far as the Editor can judge from the series available, the 

 latter is a considerably larger bird, with a great deal more 

 black on the breast, abdomen, and flanks, and much darker 

 under wing-coverts. At present evidence is wanting as to 

 which of the two forms occurs in Greenland ; possibly the 

 Old World representative visits the east side, while the 

 American bird may be confined to the west coast of that 

 great peninsula. The range of A. gamheli extends across 

 the continent to the Pacific coast, on which it is far more 

 abundant than on the Atlantic, and its southward migrations 

 reach to Mexico, Cuba, and probably to other islands of the 

 Antilles. 



In the adult White-fronted Goose the bill is orange- 

 yellow, the nail white ; at the base of the upper mandible, 

 and on the forehead, the feathers are white; irides dark 

 brown ; head, neck, back, rump, and wings brownish-ash 

 colour; upper wing-coverts greyish-brown, margined with 

 dull white ; wing-primaries and secondaries bluish-black ; 

 upper tail-coverts white ; tail-feathers dark grey tipped with 

 white ; breast and belly pale brownish- white, with patches 

 and broad bars of black ; sides and flanks ash-brown, edged 

 with dull white ; vent and under tail-coverts white ; legs, 

 toes, and membranes orange ; claws whitish horn-colour. 



The average length of an adult is twenty-seven inches ; 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the wing sixteen inches. 



The plumage of young birds of the year is more uniform 

 in colour and rather darker, the feathers at the base of the 

 upper mandible are of a deeper brown than those of the 

 other parts of the head ; the nail and point of the beak light 

 brown. The pale brown feathers on the breast are uniform 

 in colour, without any dark patches or bars. 



