314 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



When in captivity they show no disposition to breed, and 

 seemingly never become reconciled to the unnatural 

 restraint. Their food consists almost wholly of vegeta- 

 tion, but they readily subsist upon grains when in cap- 

 tivity. They are much more common on the sea-coast 

 than in the interior, and are rarely met with in the West. 



Snow-goose (white brant wavey fish-brant Texas 

 goose blue goose blue snow-goose white-headed goose 

 bald brant). The true snow-goose is white, with end of 

 wing black; fore parts of plumage frequently stained with 

 reddish brown, this generally more noticeable on front 

 of head; bill, light purplish red, but variable from a 

 dusky tone to flesh-color, with black recess along its sides; 

 legs, deep purplish red, though variable. In the young, 

 the upper parts are bluish gray or lead-color, more or less 

 varied with white; end of wing as in adult; bill and legs, 

 dusky. 



Two varieties are recognized by ornithologists, viz.: 

 lesser snow-goose and greater snow-goose. The smaller 

 bird measures twenty -five inches in length and about fifty- 

 two inches in extent; the larger, which has just been 

 described, measures several inches larger. The two 

 varieties grade toward one another confusingly. The 

 names snow-goose, fish-brant, and white brant are locally 

 applied to the larger variety, and the names blue goose, 

 bald brant, blue snow-goose, etc., to the smaller kind. 

 The smaller variety is the same shape and form as the 

 larger kind, and has the appearance of being arrayed in 

 the undeveloped plumage of the true snow -goose. The 

 head and neck of the lesser snow-goose is white, with the 

 remaining plumage principally grayish brown, with more 

 or lesS bluish gray, the feathers ending paler; wings, 

 plain, light bluish gray, with their flight-feathers black, 

 or nearly so; rump, light gray, or more whitish; legs and 

 bill, like the larger kind. 



