234 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



on each side of the neck; upper and under tail coverts and lower belly- 

 white; bill and feet black; iris brown. 



Length 23-25 inches; extent 48-52; wing 12. 5-13. 5; tail 4.5; bill 1.3- 

 1.35; tarsus 2.2-2.3; weight 4 pounds. 



Distinguishing marks. The Brant differs from the Canada goose in 

 having a black breast and lacking the white patch across the throat and 

 the sides of the head, and from the Black brant in its whiter belly, which 

 gives way abruptly to the black of the breast. 



Distribution and migration. On Long Island waters the Brant is a 

 common migrant, arriving from the south between the 15th of February 

 and the 1 5th of March and remaining until the middle of May, a few being 

 found until the last of that month. In fall it usually makes its appearance 

 from the loth to the 20th of October, a few sometimes being seen as early 

 as the 8th of September. The most of them pass southward between the 

 ist and the 20th of December, but a few remain all winter. The summer 

 home of this species is on the west coast of Greenland north of latitude 

 62 degrees, and the islands of the Arctic ocean north of latitude 74 degrees 

 probably as far westward as Wellington channel and probably as far north- 

 ward as land extends. Its line of migration is almost entirely along the 

 coast, few specimens being recorded from the interior. Its principal winter 

 range is from New Jersey to Florida. 



Two specimens from Cayuga lake, November 26, 1878, and December 

 1877, are reported in the Auburn List; one from Buffalo by Bergtold; one 

 from Irondequoit bay by J. H. Fleming of Toronto; from Troy by F. S. 

 Webster ; from Homer by Haight Brothers ; and from Seneca river by Fos- 

 ter Parker. 



Branta nigricans (Lawrence) 

 Black Brant 



Plate 22 



Anser nigricans Lawrence. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1814. 4: 171 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 174 



nigricans, Lat., blackish 



Description. Similar to the common, or Light-bellied brant, but 

 darker on the upper parts, and the black of the neck and forebreast extend- 



