BRANTA 595 



to eat small shellfish and marine insects. It breeds in Spits- 

 bergen, Greenland, and the north of Siberia, &c. ; its nest, 

 which is a bulky structure of grass and moss lined with down, 

 is placed on the ground not far from the sea. The eggs usually 

 4 in number are creamy white, smooth in surface of shell and 

 measure about 2'88 by 1*85. 



830. BLACK BRANT. 

 BRANTA NIGRICANS. 



Bmnta nigricans (Lawr.), Ann. Lye. N. Y. iv. p. 171, pi. xii. (1846) ; 

 (Seebohm), B. Jap. Emp. p. 240 ; Salvador!, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvii. 

 p. 123 ; Bidgway, p. 118. 



< ad. (N. America). Differs from B. lemicla in having 9 conspicuous 

 white collar meeting in front and interrupted only behind , the upper part 

 almost uniform sooty brown, and the abdomen aln 1 ^st as black as the 

 breast. Culmen T30, wing 13'10, tail 3'7, tarsus 2'30 inch. 



Hal. Western North America from the high north in summer 

 to Lower California in winter ; east coasts of Asia from Kam- 

 chatka, south in winter to Japan. 



In general habits and nidification the present species does 

 not differ from Branta bernicla. 



831. HUTCHINS' GOOSE. 

 BRANTA HUTCHINSI. 



Branta hutckinsi (Eichardson), Faun. Bor, Am. ii. p. 470 (1831); 

 (Audub.) B. Am. vi. p. 198, pi. 377 ; Salvador!, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xxvii. p. 114 ; Tacz. F. O. Sib. 0. p. 1109 ; Eidgway, p. 117 ; 

 (Seebohm), B. Jap. Emp. p. 239 ; B. leucopareia (Brandt) Bull. Sc. 

 Acad. St. Petersb. i. p. 37 (1836). 



Shi-jiu-kara-gan, Jap. 



Ad. Head and neck black ; chin, throat, and cheeks white ; upper parts 

 brown with paler margins, except on the back ; rump black ; under parts 

 brown, the lower neck whitish, the vent and under tail-coverts pure white ; 

 bill and legs blackish plumbeous ; iris dark brown. Culmen 2 '3, wing 

 16'0, tail 5-5, tarsus 3'25 inch. 



Hob. Arctic and subarctic America, in winter south to Mexico ; 

 Eastern Siberia, the Kurile and Commander Islands ; Japan 

 in winter. 



In habits it does not differ from B. lernicla, and its nest and 

 eggs also resemble those of that species, the latter measuring 

 about 3-18 by 218. 



R R. 



