WILD GEESE AND BRANT. 1 89 



all includes about a dozen forms. In addition to the true geese, two 

 species of Dendrocygna are found occasionally near the southern 

 boundary of the United States. This genus consists of somewhat 

 duck-like tree-inhabiting geese of tropical distribution. They serve 

 to connect the Anseriiice with the Anatznce. 



Besides the other very obvious differences which exist between 

 them, the Geese are readily distinguishable on the one hand 

 from the Swans, by having a strip of feathered skin between the 

 eye and the bill, and on the other from the ducks, by having the 

 tarsus entirely reticulate. 



A user albifrons var. gambcli.—Cone:^. White-fronted Goose. Brant. 

 Speckle-belly. 



The White-fronted or Laughing Goose has reddish legs and 

 bill ; feathers at the side of bill and on the forehead, white ; mar- 

 gined behind with blackish brown ; remainder of neck and head 

 greyish brown, but paler on the jugulum. The back is bluish 

 grey ; the feathers anteriorly tipped with brown ; the breast and 

 belly are greyish white, blotched with black ; the anal region, 

 flanks, under and upper tail coverts, white : greater wing 

 coverts edged with white. Tail, sixteen feathers, and colored 

 brown, with white tips ; axillars and under surface of wings 

 ashy plumbeous. 



This species is by no means abundant on our Atlantic seaboard, 

 and the few that are exposed for sale in our markets during the 

 spring and fall come, for the most part, from the Western States. 

 The bird is found in considerable numbers on the prairies of the 

 Mississippi Valley, and is there called Prairie Brant by marketmen 

 and gunners. It is on the Pacific Slope, however, that the White- 

 fronted Goose is to be found in greatest abundance. In Oregon 

 and Northern California the species is very abundant in the autumn, 

 and some remain all winter ; but the greater number go farther 

 South. At the mouth of the Columbia River, and in the valley of 

 the Willamette, it can be found in large flocks, but it seems to be 

 quite scarce along Puget Sound. It appears to prefer the grassy 

 patches along streams flowing into the ocean, or the tidewater flats 

 so abundant in several parts of Oregon and Washington Territory. 

 In this section the S{)eckle-bellies, as they are there called, feed in 



