WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 505 



ANSER ALBIFRONS AND ANSER ALBIFRONS MINUTUS. 



WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and LESSER WHITE-FRONTED 



GOOSE. 



The White-fronted Goose is one of those species of birds that is subject 

 to great variation in size, especially in the dimensions of the bill, and has 

 consequently been subdivided into two or three species. The bill, from 

 the frontal feathers to the tip, varies in size from 1*15 to 2'35 inch. If 

 we arbitrarily assume the mean of these measurements to be the dividing 

 line between the large and the small races, we find that the smaller form 

 appears to be confined to Arctic Russia and Siberia, whilst the larger form 

 occurs throughout the range of the species. The peculiarity of a subspeci- 

 fically distinct large and small race is one which is found in many species 

 belonging to this genus. The synonymy of the two forms is as follows : 



ANSER ALBIFRONS. 



WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



(PLATE 60.) 



Anser septentrionalis sylvestris, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 2G9 (1760). 



Branta albifrons, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 69 (17G9) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(TemmincK), (Degkmdfy Gerbe), (Naumann), (Dresser), (Sounders), &c. 

 Anas albifrons (Scop.}, Lath. Gen. Syn. Sup-pi, i. p. 297 (1787). 

 Anser albifrons (Scop.), Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iv. p. 898 (1809). 

 Anser medius, Bruch, Isis, 1828, p. 732. 

 Anser bruchii, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 841 (1831). 

 Anser intermedius, Nanm. Vog. Deutschl. xi. p. 340 (1842). 

 Anser gambeli, Hartlaub, Rev. Mag. Zool. 1852, p. 7. 

 Anser albifrons roseipes, Schleg. Naumannia, 1855, p. 254. 

 Anser pallipes, Selys-Lonych. Naumannia, 1855, p. 264. 

 Anser frontalis, Baird, B. N. Amer. p. 562 (1858). 

 Anser albifrons, var. gambeli, Coues, Key N.-Amer. B. p. 282 (1872). 

 Anser albifrons gambeli, Ridgw. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, p. 203. 



ANSER ALBIFRONS MINUTUS. 

 LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



(PLATE 62.) 



Anser erythropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 197 (1766). 



Anser fmmarchicus, Gunner, Leem. Bcskr. Finm. Lapp. p. 204 (1767). 



Anser temminckii, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 882. 



Anser cineraceus, Brehm, Lehrb. Naturg. Vog. ii. p. 772 (1824). 



Anser minutus, Naum. Vog. Deutschl. xi. p. 364 (1842) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Nilsson, Brehm, Schalow, Palmcn, Cabanis, Mulmgren, CoUett, Homeyer, Tacza- 



nowski, Finsch, Blyth, Irby, Severtzow, &c. 

 VOL. III. 2 L 



