82 GEESE 



though properly entitled to the name, as being the original possessor 

 thereof, is an entirely different bird from the one with which the name 

 has been associated for such a long time. 



The simple way out of the difficulty is to drop the vernacular name 

 Hutchins's altogether and to give the bird on which it was originally be- 

 stowed, the vernacular name of Richardson's Goose, and the scientific 

 name hutchinsi, thus obviating confusion and at the same time doing 

 honour both to the original discoverer and to the man for whom he 

 named the bird. This plan has been adopted in this work. 



(2) Western Canada Goose. The other deviation from the nomen- 

 clature of the 1931 Check List is in the case of the bird herein called 

 Western Canada Goose instead of "White-cheeked Goose." This bird is 

 exclusively western in its range, and its scientific name is occidentals, 

 which means "western," therefore the change is logical. Furthermore, 

 the scientific name of the Lesser Canada Goose is leucopareia, which 

 means "white-cheeked." Thus in the 1931 Check List there exists the 

 anomaly of one bird whose vernacular name is White-cheeked and an en- 

 tirely different bird whose scientific name is white-cheeked. This minor 

 change will avoid inevitable confusion. 



Both of the above changes in common names are at present being 

 considered by the appropriate committee of the A.O.U. It is believed 

 and hoped that they will see fit to make these essential alterations in the 

 forthcoming edition of the Check List. 



Common Canada Goose 



Branta canadensis canadensis 

 (bran-ta, kan-a-den-sis) 



Colour Plate No. 2. Downy Young No. 32. 

 (A subspecies of the Canada Goose) 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Branta, a corruption of Greek brenthos, being the Aristotelian name of an un- 

 known bird; canadensis, Latinized form, meaning of Canada. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Honker, varied to honker goose, big honker, Canada honker, 

 old honker, and corrupted to hunker and hunter. IN LOCAL USE: Bay goose; bernache 

 (French name of the barnacle goose); big Mexican goose; blackie; black-necked 

 goose; brant; French goose; Mexican goose; nigger goose; northern goose; outarde 

 (bustard); reef goose; ringneck; ringneck goose; wavy. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULTS, BOTH SEXES. Head and neck, shiny black; black "stocking," as 

 the long black neck is called, ending abruptly at base of neck; each cheek with 

 white or whitish patch, the two patches usually meeting under throat, sometimes 

 stained rusty; chin, usually dusky; bill, black, shorter than head and with broad 

 nail; eye, brown. Body. Back and scapulars, brownish grey, each feather narrowly 

 tipped with lighter, producing a finely-barred effect; rump, black; chest and breast, 

 pale ashy grey, with whitish tips to feathers; belly and flanks, white; sides, brown- 



