106 GEESE 



begin to move northward, joining the birds which have wintered in more 

 northerly places. The main flight is probably in March, and by April, 

 except for some stragglers, the Brant have left their winter quarters. 

 Winter comes early in the far North and the Brant are forced to start 

 their migration south early in September or even in late August, and the 

 main flight reaches the Gulf of St. Lawrence late in September. By the 

 middle of October or early November these birds are once again on their 

 winter grounds, the main part of which lies on the Atlantic coast from 

 New Jersey south. 



Black Brant 



Branta nigr leans 



(Branta bernicla nigricans, of Peters) 

 (bran-ta, nig-ri-kans; ber-ni-kla) 



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; nigricans, Latin, meaning blackish; bernicla, Latinized form of 

 the English word "barnacle." 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Brant. IN LOCAL USE: China goose; Eskimo goose; sea brant. 



DESCRIPTION 



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

 at top of neck, incomplete behind; bill black; eye, dark brown. Body. Chest and 

 foreback, leaden black (sometimes blending into slaty breast); back and scapulars, 

 brownish black, feathers slightly paler at tips; rump, brownish black, with sides of 

 rump, white; breast, slaty brown, blending into black of chest; sides, slaty brown, 

 barred with white or whitish; belly and flanks, whitish; feet, black. Tail, black; 

 upper and under coverts, white, usually as long as, and sometimes slightly longer 

 than, tail. Wings. All coverts, like back; all flight-feathers, dull black; lining and 

 axillars, greyish brown. 



JUVENILE. During first autumn, similar in general coloration to adult but 

 more greyish; scapulars, secondaries and wing-coverts, brown, tipped with white, 

 there being considerable variation in broadness of white tipping in coverts; white 

 collar of adult not evident and no barring on sides; breast, dark grey to blackish. 

 After complete moult during summer, plumage fully adult. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



ADULTS. General effect. A small, brownish-black goose with black head, neck 

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

 ing features (a) white collar incomplete behind, complete in front unlike that of 

 the American Brant, (b) solid black of foreparts merging into dark breast, (tf 

 breast, slaty brown. 



