120 GEESE. 



young corn, or cereals. When wounded, they dive readily and, with 

 their body just below the surface of the water and only the bill ex- 

 posed, head for the shore, where they attempt to hide in the vegetation. 

 In migrating, the flock is formed in a V-shaped wedge, the lead, it 

 is said, being taken by an old gander. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



1. Whole head or forehead white. • " 



A. Bill yellowish. 



a. Forehead and feathers at the base of bill white. 



171a. Am. White-fronted Goose (Ad.). 



b. Head and neck white or grayish, sometimes tinged with rusty. 

 Ji. Primaries black, rest of plumage white. 



169. Lesser Snow Goose. 169a. Greater Snow Goose. 

 J2. Back grayish brown, rump and belly whitish, wing-coverts and 

 tertials widely margined with white. . . . 169. Lesser Snow 

 Goose (Im.). 169a. Greater Snow Goose (Im.). 

 b'. Back grayish brown, rump, belly, and wing-coverts gray, the lat- 

 ter not conspicuously margined with white. 



169.1. Blue Goose (Ad.). 

 £. Bill black, throat and sides of the head white, lores black. 



175. Barnacle Goose. 

 iL Head and neck brown, bill yellow or yellowish. 



A. Nail of bill black, rump fuscous. 



171a. Am. White-fronted Goose (Im.). 



£. Nail of bill yellow, rump g^ifey 169.1. Blue Goose (Im.). 



III. Head black or brownish black, bill black. 



A. Throat white . . . 172. Canada Goose. 172a. Hutchins's Goose. 

 £. Throat black or brownish black, neck speckled with white. 



a. Belly white 173. Brant. 



b. Belly brownish gray 174. Black Brant. 



169. Chen hyperborea (Pall). Lesser Snow Goose, ^^.— En- 

 tire plumage, except the primaries with their coverts, white ; primaries black, 

 their bases and coverts ashy. Im. — " Head, neck, and upper parts pale gray- 

 ish, .the feathers of the latter with whitish edges and (especially wing-coverts 

 and tertials) striped medially with darker ; rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, and 

 lower parts plain white. L., 23-00-28-00 ; W., 14-50-17-00; B., 1-95-2-30; 

 Tar., 2-80-3-25 " (Kidgw.). 



Range. — Western North America, breeding in Alaska and migrating south- 

 ward to the Gulf; rarely found east of the Mississippi. 



Eggs., uniform dirty, chalky white, 3-40 x 2-20 (B., B., and E.). 



169a/* C» h. niva/lis {Forst.). Greater Snow Goose. — Resembles the 

 preceding in color, but is larger. L., 30-0U-3b-00; W., 17"35-17'50; B., 2-55- 

 2-70; Tar., 3-15-3-50 (Ridgw.'). 



Range.— ^a^tern North America, breeding in the far north (exact breed- 

 ing range unknown); winters from Chesapeake Bay to Cuba; rare on the 

 Atlantic coast north of Virginia. 



