96 Figgins, Races of Branta canadensis. [jan. 



occidentalis, while kutchinsi is credited with 14 to 18, the type speci- 

 men having but 14. The number of tail feathers is, therefore, of 

 very doubtful significance as a diagnostic character. 



There remain then, only the color and markings by which 

 hutchinsi and occidentalis are supposed to be determined. 



Referring to the former, Ridgway (Manual of North American 

 Birds, 4th edition, p. 117) confines himself to the statement that it 

 is "smaller" (when compared with canadensis). Grinnell, Bryant 

 and Storer, (Game Birds of California, page 230) say: "Practically 

 the same as Canada Goose but size smaller .... The Hutchins Goose 

 is simply a slightly smaller ' edition' of the Canada Goose. ..." 



Quoting Baird, (U. S. P. R. R. Explorations and Surveys, Vol. 

 IX, 1858, p. 766), "In the specimens of Hutchins' Goose before me, 

 I can detect no difference of form from the Canada Goose, excepting 

 in the smaller size and less number of tail feathers." 



Coues (Key to North American Birds, 5th edition, Vol. II, p. 

 904), says "Other individuals run down to wing, 14.75; bill, 1.20; 

 tarsus 2.25; and such probably cannot be distinguished from 

 minima, especially from an individual of the latter which happens 

 to have 16 tail-feathers, unless by the color-marks which ordinarily 

 distinguish both minima and occidentalis from both hutchinsi and 

 canadensis proper. There is in fact, some question whether Dr. 

 Richardson's original hutchinsii type from Melville peninsula, was 

 not what we are now calling minima, for it was described; length, 



25.00; wing, 14.00; tail, 14-feathered; Breast all white, etc."; 



but it might make confusion worse confounded to insist upon the 

 point now." 



Again quoting Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, (page 224): "The 

 three subspecies or varieties of 'white-cheeked geese,' (Canada, 

 Hutchins' and Cackling) intergrade with one another, and indi- 

 viduals are occasionally found which cannot be satisfactorily 

 referred to one or the other of these races." 



On page 2, Swarth says: "The hutchinsi series at hand, (36 

 specimens), forms a perfect connecting link between B. c. canadensis 

 and B. c. minima, the gradation between hutchinsi and minima, in 

 particular being so gradual that several specimens might with equal 

 propriety be placed in either subspecies." 



Taking up the color and markings of occidentalis, Ridgway 



