212 GEESE 



169.1. Chen caerulescens (Linn.). BLUE GOOSE. Ads. Head and 

 upper neck white; middle of hindneck sometimes blackish, lower neck all 

 around fuscous, rest of underparts brownish gray edged with buffy; lower 

 belly generally paler, sometimes white ; upper back and scapulars like breast ; 

 lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts gray; tail fuscous-gray edged with 

 whitish; wing-coverts like the rump or slightly darker, with little or no 

 whitish margins; wing-quills and tertials fuscous, the latter more or less 

 margined with whitish. Im. "Similar to adult, but head and neck uniform 

 deep grayish brown, only the chin being white. L., 26'50-30'00; W., 15'00- 

 IT'OO; B., 2-10-2-30; Tar., 3'00-3'30" (Ridgw.). 



Range. E. N. Am. Breeding range unknown, but probably interior 

 of n. Ungava; winters from Nebr. and s. Ills. s. to coasts of Tex. and La.; 

 rare or casual in migration in Calif., and from N. H. to Fla., Cuba, and the 

 Bahamas. 



Long Island, one record. N. Ohio, casual T. V. 



Nest, in a depression on dried grass. Eggs, 4, "brownish buff, 2'50 x 

 1-75" (Reed). Date, Cape Bathurst, June 29 (Thayer Coll.). 



The fact that the summer home of the Blue Goose is in the far 

 north while its winter range is remarkably restricted, has brought the 

 bird to the attention of comparatively few ornithologists. In consequence 

 it has until recently been considered a rare species. During the winter 

 of 1910, however, it was found in flocks of thousands at the delta of the 

 Mississippi River by Job and by McAtee (Auk, 1910, p. 337). Here they 

 were doing great damage to pasture lands, through their destruction 

 of various grasses. 



171a. Anser albifrons gambeli Hartl. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. Ads. 

 Forehead and region bordering base of bill white; upperparts and fore- 

 neck grayish brown, more or less margined on back with lighter; longer and 

 lateral upper tail-coverts white; breast somewhat lighter than throat, more 

 or less irregularly marked with black, and fading gradually into pure white 

 on lower belly; sides like back. Im. Similar, but no white at base of bill 

 or black marks on breast; nail of the bill black. "L., 27'00-30'00; W., 

 14-25-17'SO; B., l'80-2'35; depth of mandible at base, -90-1'20; width, 

 85-1-05; Tar., 2'60-3'20" (Ridgw.). 



Range. Cen. and w. N. A. Breeds on and near the Arctic coast from 

 ne. Siberia e. to ne. Mackenzie and s. to lower Yukon Valley; winters com- 

 monly from s. B. C. to s. L. Calif., and Jalisco, and rarely from s. Ills., s 

 Ohio, and N. J. s. to ne. Mex., s. Tex., and Cuba, and on the Asiatic coast 

 to China and Japan; rare in migration on the Atlantic coast n. to Ungava. 



Long Island, rare T. V. Glen Ellyn, rare T. V., Mch. and Oct. SE. 

 Minn., T. V., Apl. 1. 



Nest, on the ground, of grasses lined with down. Eggs, 6-7, dull greenish 

 yellow with obscure darker tints, 3*10 x 2*07 (Davie). Date, Pt. Barrow, 

 Alaska, June 19. 



' 'These birds are rarely met with on the Atlantic coast, but are 

 quite common in the Misissippi Valley and abundant on the Pacific 

 slojjj^. They prefer low, wet grounds in the vicinity of timber, or where 

 the prairie is dotted here and there with bushes; and, while they occas- 

 ionally forage off the wheat fields and other grains on the bottom lands, 

 they seldom visit the high, dry prairies like the Snow and Canada Geese." 

 (Goss.) 



The EUROPEAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (171. Anser albifrons albifrons) 

 resembles its American representative in color, but averages smaller. It is 

 of doubtful record from Eastern Greenland. 



