240 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



of the fore-neck, and shading off into pure white on the lower 

 abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts ; the sides of the body 

 and flanks mottled with broad white edgings to the feathers, 

 before which is a shade of brown ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries slaty-grey; bill, feet, and toes black; iris dark brown. 

 Total length, 2i'o inches; culmen, 1*35; wing, 12*7; tail, 

 4'6 ; tarsus, 2*1. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, but a little smaller. 



Young Birds. Paler grey and having the neck entirely black, 

 and may be distinguished by the whitish edges to the wing- 

 coverts and scapulars, which gives them a spotted appear- 

 ance. 



Characters. The Brent Goose is easily recognised by the 

 abnormal length of the upper and under tail-coverts, which 

 reach to the end of the tail-feathers, and occasionally even 

 beyond them, so that the tail is almost completely hidden. 

 The head in the present species and its allies is entirely black. 

 The under-parts are greyish, or whitish, contrasting strongly 

 with the black of the neck and chest. 



There are two forms of the Common Brent Goose, both of 

 which occur in England and appear at first sight to be specifi- 

 cally distinct. The true Branta bernida, which is supposed to 

 range from the Taimyr Peninsula to Novaya Zemlya, Franz- 

 Josef Land, and Spitsbergen, has the belly dark grey, and Mr. 

 Seebohm considers the form with the whitish belly, B. glauco- 

 gaster, to take the place of the common Brent from the west 

 coast of Greenland to the Parry Isles. These two races are 

 further supposed to be distinguished from the Pacific Brent, 

 B. nigricans (which has the belly nearly as black as the throat 

 and chest), by the white markings on the sides of the neck, not 

 meeting in front. This last is not a specific character, for it 

 is found occasionally in both the dark and light forms of the 

 Common Brent. Although the series of specimens of these 

 Geese in the British Museum is not a large one, it is sufficient 

 to show that intermediate specimens between the light and 

 dark forms often occur, and I agree with Count Salvadori that 

 they cannot be separated as races. Nor is the restriction of 

 each race to a separate geographical area, as propounded by 

 Mr. Seebohm, confirmed by recent researches, for a specimen 



