CHEN HYPERBOREUS I SNOW GOOSE. 299 



SNOW GOOSE. 



CHEN HYPERBOREUS (Pall.) Boie. 



Chars. Bill with the teeth very prominent, owing to arching of 

 the edges of the bill ; the enclosed space blackish ; rest of the bill 

 reddish, with white nail ; feet reddish, with dark claws. Plu- 

 mage of the adult white, usually washed on the head with rusty- 

 red ; the primaries broadly tipped with black. Young ones 

 bluish or leaden-gray on the head and upper parts. Length, 

 about 30.00 ; wing, 17.00-19.00 ; tail, 5.50-6.50 ; bill, 2.50 ; tarsus, 

 3-25- 



Note. The Blue Goose, C. ccerulescens, probably occurs in New 

 England, but we have no positive authority for including it 

 (See Brewer, Pr. Bost. Soc., xvii, 1875, p. 452.) It closely 

 resembles the young of the Snow Goose, and may therefore 

 be easily overlooked. 



Though far from being as abundant in Eastern North 

 America as it is in the West, this fine Goose, of swan- 

 like purity of plumage, occurs in New England as 

 a rare regular winter visitor, chiefly along the coast. It 

 arrives late in the fall ; many of the migrants pass 

 further south, wintering all along the Atlantic seaboard, 

 while others are to be found with us during the whole 

 season. Early in the spring the birds take flight for the 

 hyperborean regions where they breed. While it is 

 needless to cite all the records we possess, we may refer 

 to the case given by Samuels, of a female shot in Boston 

 Harbor, July, 1860 (Rep. Sec'y Mass. Board Agric., 1860, 

 p. 364; the date being given as July, 1862, on p. 24 of 

 separates of the paper, and as July, 1863, in Orn. and 

 Ool. N. E., p. 482). 



