134 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
al 
BARRED UPLAND GOOSE 
Bernicla dispar 
White; neck behind and body beneath banded with black ; primaries, 
greater wing-coverts, tertiaries, and scapulars cinereous; rump and 
tail-feathers ashy black; bill black, feet plumbeous; length 26, 
wing 16 inches. Female, head and neck cinnamon-brown ; abdomen 
similar, barred with black; upper part also barred; rump and tail- 
feathers brownish black. 
Tus bird is a northern form of the well-known 
“Upland Goose ”’ of the Falkland Isles and Southern 
Patagonia, from which it differs in the male being 
completely barred across with black on the lower 
surface. It was first described by Philippi and Land- 
beck from Chilian specimens, and in 1872 was 
recognised by Dr. Burmeister as found near the 
Sierra Tandil and on the Rio Negro. 
In April and May this Goose migrates north- 
wards, along the eastern coast, as far as the pampas 
of Buenos Ayres, the migration ending about one 
hundred and fifty miles south of Buenos Ayres city. 
Further south they are at this season of the year 
excessively abundant in suitable localities. Their 
great camping-grounds are the valleys of the rivers 
Negro and Colorado, where they are often so numer- 
ous as to denude the low grounds of the tender 
winter clovers and grasses, and to cause serious loss 
to the sheep-breeders. They also visit the cultivated 
fields to devour the young wheat, and are intelligent 
enough to distinguish between a real human enemy 
and the ragged men of straw, miscalled scarecrows, 
