244 The IVater-fowl Family 



northern Europe as far as Egypt. Possibly some of the birds 

 from eastern North America, identified as B. nigricans, belong 

 to this form. 



BRANT GOOSE. WHITE-BELLIED BRANT. 



COMMON BRANT 



(^Branta bernicla glaucogastra) 



Adult male and female — Head, neck, and upper part of breast, and 

 back at base of neck, black ; transverse streaks of white on 

 each side of the middle of the neck ; above, brownish gray, the 

 feathers tipped with a paler shade ; under parts, grayish white ; 

 anal region, pure white ; middle of rump, dark brown ; upper 

 and under tail-coverts, white; tail, black; bill, legs, and feet, 

 black ; iris, brown. 



Measurements — Length, 24 to 30 inches; wing, 13 inches; tarsus, 

 2.40 inches; culmen, 1.50 inches. 



Voting — Plumage similar to the adult, but with white bars across 

 the wings. The white patch on the neck is less marked or 

 absent entirely ; under parts lighter. 



Eggs — Four to six in number, grayish white, measure 2.70 by 1.80 

 inches. 



Habitat — "Breeds only within the Arctic Circle." (Coues.) "In 

 Arctic America, from the west coast of Greenland as far 

 west as the Parry Islands, and north of latitude 73° as far 

 as land is known to extend." (Seebohm fide Coues.) This 

 bird has been said to breed on the coasts and islands of 

 Hudson Bay, and the interior of Labrador, north to the 

 Arctic Sea, and at Pointe des Monts, Quebec, but probably 

 all are mistakes. Winters on the Atlantic Coast, from 

 Massachusetts south to North Carolina, and rarely to Florida ; 

 is common on the St. Lawrence River in migration, but 

 rare elsewhere in the interior, occurring west to Manitoba, 

 Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Louisiana 

 and Texas (?), and reported also from western New 

 York, Ohio (?), Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

 Occurs also in Great Britain, but less frequently than B. 

 bernicla. 



