ANSER.] AVES NATATORES. 223 



DESCRIPT. Head, and upper part of the neck, dark cinereous brown, 

 the feathers of the latter having a furrowed appearance ; lower part of the 

 neck, breast and belly, ash-gray, clouded with shades of a deeper tint : 

 back, scapulars and wing-coverts, deep clove-brown, the feathers edged 

 with whitish : quills dark gray, passing into black at the tips ; the shafts 

 white : rump blackish brown : tail dusky, tipped with white : vent, and 

 under tail-coverts, pure white : bill black at the base and on the nail, 

 the middle part orange-red : irides deep brown : legs orange. Obs. This 

 species is subject to some little variation of plumage : the brown tint on 

 the upper parts prevails over the ash-colour, or the ash-colour over the 

 brown : the secondary quills are also sometimes edged and tipped with 

 white : occasionally, though very rarely, the nail of the bill is white, in 

 which case it becomes extremely difficult to distinguish it from the last 

 species, which at all times it closely resembles ; it is however smaller 

 than the A.ferus, and the wings when closed extend nearly half an inch 

 beyond the tip of the tail. (Egg.) Dull yellowish white : long, diam. 

 three inches five lines ; trans, diam. two inches five lines. 



Much more plentiful than the last species. Visits this country in large 

 Hocks at the approach of Winter, resorting to fens, and also to upland 

 corn-fields for the sake of the green wheat. Clamorous in its flight, 

 which, when the flock is numerous, generally assumes a figured form. 

 Retires in May to more northern latitudes to breed. Said to make a nest 

 in marshes, amongst the coarse herbage, and to laj> from ten to twelve 

 eggs. 



224. A. albifrons, Steph. (White-fronted Goose.) 

 Bill and legs orange ; the former with the nail white : 

 wings reaching a little beyond the tail : a large white 

 space on the forehead. 



Anas albifrons, Temm. Man. d*Orn. torn. n. p. 821. White-fronted 

 Goose, Mont. Orn. Diet. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 294. Selb. 

 Illust. vol. n. p. 266. pi. 43. 



DIMENS. Entire length two feet three inches : length of the bill 

 (from the gape) two inches ; of the tarsus three inches ; from the carpus 

 to the end of the wing sixteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. Region of the bill, and a large space on the forehead, 

 pure white, the latter bordered with deep brown ; a small white spot also 

 under each eye : rest of the head, and neck, brownish ash : back, scapu- 

 lars, and flanks, clove-brown, the feathers edged with reddish ash : quills- 

 black ; greater wing-coverts tipped with white : breast, belly and abdo- 

 men, dirty white, irregularly marked with patches and transverse bars of 

 black: tail blackish gray; the middle feathers edged with white, the 

 outer one on each side almost wholly white : upper and under tail-coverts 

 white : bill flesh-red, tinged with orange ; the nail white : irides brown r 

 legs yellowish orange. In young birds, there is no white patch on the 

 forehead, but occasionally two or three small white spots at the base of 

 the bill : the head and neck are tinged with reddish ; the ash-coloured 

 tints on the rest of the plumage paler than in the adult. (Egg.) White, 

 tinged with buff: long. diam. two inches ten lines ; trans, diam. one inch 

 eleven lines. 



Appears in small flocks during the winter months. Not uncommon in 

 the fenny districts in the eastern parts of England. Said to breed in the 

 Arctic Regions. Food, grain, seeds and vegetables. 



