RED-BREASTED BERNICLE. 53 



ciously insisted on by many persons in the present 

 day, forms an apt accompaniment to the chimerical 

 dreams respecting the birth of the Bernicle, and will, 

 it is to be hoped, in its turn disappear before the 

 penetrating radiance and calm investigation of truth. 



RED-BREASTED BERNICLE. 



(Bernicla ruficolli- 



BE. supra nigra, collo rufo, corpora subtns macula ante ocnlos 



strigaque longitudinali collis utrinque albis. 

 Bernicle above black, with the neck red, the body beneath, spot 



before the eyes, and longitudinal stripe on each side of the 



neck, white. 

 Auser ruficollis. Pall Spic. 6. 21. pi 4. Gin el. Syst. Nat. 1. 



511. Lath. Ind. Oni. 2. 841 . 

 Anas torquata. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 514. 



Oie a cou roux. Temm. man. d'Orn. 533. Id. 2 Edit. ii. 826. 

 Red-breasted Goose. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 571. C. Lath. Gen. 



Syn. 6*. 455. Lew. Brit. Birds, 7- pi. 241. Mont. Orn. 



Diet. 1 . Be v:. Brit. Birds, 2. 289. 



ABOUT twenty-two inches in length : the beak is 

 brown, with its hook black : the irides are yellowish- 

 brown : between the beak and the eye is a white 

 space : behind the eyes and on the sides of the neck, 

 and also a band which surrounds the lower part of 

 the breast, and returns to the back, white : the top 

 of the head, the throat, belly, tail, and all the upper 

 parts are deep black : the vent, under tail-coverts, 

 and rump are pure white : the fore part of the neck 



