Vol 'l9^ CVI1 ] Figgins, Races of Branta canadensis. 101 



sides, but is present on the middle portion of the neck, mottled 

 with white and extending to and over the crown, where it is replaced 

 by the usual head markings. This bird is a female, taken in late 

 March and moulting. 



In Anser albifrons gambcli, the breast of one specimen is fully 

 half black. A second is devoid of the slightest trace of black, 

 the entire under parts of this bird being an unbroken, pale creamy- 

 buff from neck to tail. The usual white of the forehead and lores is 

 restricted to a narrow band, in no place exceeding .25 in width and 

 does not extend to the gape. This white area is heavily mottled 

 with black and the chin is the uniform color of the throat. Two 

 examples intergrade. Of the four specimens examined the light 

 phase above described has the shortest wing (15.62) and culmen 

 (1.97), and the longest tarsus, (2.75). 



Conclusions. 



That it is not possible to identify a specimen as hutckinsi without 

 disregarding strong evidence of its being either true canadensis or 

 minima. That such identification is largely a matter of personal 

 preference — so-called hutckinsi being merely examples of cana- 

 densis that present one or two measurements below the minimum 

 or specimens that are the result of a cross between canadensis and 

 minima. Hutchinsi is credited as occupying approximately the 

 same range as canadensis but extending northward on the Pacific 

 coast to Point Barrow and Flaxman Island. (See The Canning 

 River Region, Northern Alaska, Leffingwell, page 65, 1919, U. S. 

 Geological Survey Professional Paper 109). Swarth shows 

 that " hutchinsi" attains its greatest abundance on the Pacific coast 

 and that his "series at hand forms a perfect connecting link between 

 B. c. canadensis and B. c. minima, the gradation between hutckinsi 

 and minima in particular being so gradual that several specimens 

 might with equal propriety be placed in either subspecies." 



It appears to be established by several authorities that the 

 breeding range of the representatives of the genus Branta overlap 

 and it is the present writer's belief that hutchinsi is a hybrid inter- 

 grade between canadensis and minima. Contrary to Swarth's 

 supposition that "we should expect to find at points farther east 



