114 WHOOPING SWAN. 



CYGNUS MUSICUS. 

 Whooping Swan, 



DESCKIPTIUN. 



Si'. Cii. Size, largo. Bill, similar in form to that of the Whistling Swan. Tail feathers, twenty in 

 number, normally. Color. White throughout. Bill, black, with a large yellow blotch on the side, 

 surrounding the nostrils and occupying more than one half of the bill. 



DLMENSIONS. 



Length, 50.00 to 60.00 ; stretch, 72.00 to 84.00. Wing, 20.00 to 24.00 ; tail, 7.00 to 8.00 bill, S.-JO to 

 4.00; tarsus, 3.50 to 4.00. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Known from the closely allied Whistling Swan by one large yellow spot about the nostrils on bill. 

 Northern Europe, accidental or occasional in Greenland. 



NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nksts, placed on the ground in marshes, composed of reeds, dead grasses, etc. Eggs, two to five in 

 number, yellowish -white in color, oval in form. Dimensions 4.50 by 2,40 to 4.35 by 2.!J5. 



HABITS. 



The well-known Whooping Swan is an inhabitant of Northern Eurt)pe, migrating 

 southward in whiter. This species is occasionally taken in Greenland. 



ANSER CAERULESCENS. 

 Blue Goose. 



Anser caerulescens Linn. Syst. Nat. I. ; 17Gt). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sr. Ch. Form, robust. Size, medium. Bill, stout. Head and upper half of neck, mostly white, 

 frequently tinged with orange in front. Lower neck and body grayish brown, each feather broadly bordered 

 terminally with paler ; T)ut these edgings become nearly obsolete on the neck where the tint is darker, and 

 joins irregularly the white above it. Rump and wings, pale, pearl gray. Primaries, black, fading baseally 

 into hoary gray. Secondaries, deep black, narrowly margined with white. Tail, dec]i bluish, eacli featlier 

 distinctly bordered with white. Bill and feet, reddish. Sexes, similar, but the female is slightly smaller 

 than the male. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but with head and neck the same color as the breast and body, but 

 darker. Chin, white. Bill and feet, blackish. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length, 27.50 to 29.00; stretch, 55.50 to §6.00, wing, 15.25 to 16.50; tail, 5.50 to 6.(.«); bill, 2.10 to 

 2.20 ; tarsus, 2.90 to 3.00. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Distinguished from the young of the Snow Goose, to which it bears consideraVile resemblance, especially 

 in the younger stages, by the constantly dark colors of the rump and lower parts of tlie body ; these always 

 being white in the Snow Goose. 



