102 GEESE 



American Brant 



Branta bernicla hrota 

 (bran-ta, ber-ni-kla, hr6-ta) 



Colour Plate No. 3. Downy Young No. 32. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Branta, a corruption of Greek brenthos or brinthos, being the Aristotelian name 

 of an unknown bird; bernicla, Latinized form of the English word "barnacle"; hrota, 

 the Icelandic word for the Brant. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Brant. IN LOCAL USE: Black brant; brant goose; lightbellied 

 brant. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULTS, BOTH SEXES. Head and neck, leaden black, except for broken white 

 crescent on each side of neck; bill, black; eye, brown. Body. Chest and foreback, 

 leaden black, sharply denned against breast and sides; back and scapulars, brown, 

 with feathers vaguely tipped with lighter brown; rump, dusky brown to dusky, 

 with sides of rump white; forebreast and sides, pale ashy grey, feathers of latter 

 slightly browner, and broadly tipped with white; breast, belly and flanks, pale 

 greyish to light greyish brown; feet, black. Tail, black, the long upper and under 

 coverts, white, these often as long as, or slightly longer than tail. Wings. All coverts, 

 grey brown, with paler edges to feathers, broader on middle and greater coverts, 

 edgings usually less conspicuous than on back and scapulars; all flight-feathers, 

 dusky black; lining and axillars, grey brown. 



JUVENILE. In first autumn, similar generally to adults except that white 

 feathers on neck are hardly discernible; back, scapulars and wing-coverts, except 

 forward lesser coverts, edged with buffy white, there being considerable variation 

 in broadness of edgings on wing-coverts; breast more uniform grey with darker 

 shafts; tail-feathers, usually tipped with whitish. A continuous moult during winter 

 and spring tends toward maturity of plumage and, after complete moult during 

 summer, plumage is fully adult. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



ADULTS. General effect: A small, greyish-brown goose with black head, neck 

 and foreparts, and a light breast; slightly larger than a Mallard. Chief distinguish- 

 ing features (a) white collar incomplete before and behind, (b) black of chest 

 sharply defined against lighter colour of breast and sides, (c) greyish-white breast. 



Very similar to the Black Brant but separated by its light breast as well as 

 by features (a) and (b). Distinguished from the Barnacle Goose by the white head 

 of that species. 



JUVENILES. Closely resemble adult, the best distinguishing plumage character 

 being the wing-coverts (see Plate No. 3). Similar to juvenile Black Brant but dis- 

 tinguished by its lighter-coloured breast and sides. See "Descriptions." 



