4 I'niri rsity of California Publications in Zoology [Vol.12 



Such is evidently not the. case, as shown by the large number of speci- 

 mens combining the characters of the two forms. 



It is possible that the asserted occurrence of occidentals in Cali- 

 fornia is based in part upon the capture of birds of such characters 

 as those just mentioned, for in some particulars they would answer 

 fairly well to some published descriptions of that race. Comparison 

 of California birds with these intermediate characters with specimens 

 of occidentalis from the northwest coast region, however, shows that 

 the affinities of the former lie in other directions, and my belief, as 

 indicated above, is that they are intergrades between hutchinsi and 

 minima. 



Branta canadensis minima 



There seems to be a greater range of variation in color and mark- 

 ings in this than in any of the other forms. Sixty-seven specimens 

 were examined (nos. 19456, 19457, 21984, 22014-22077). These show 

 the following combinations of patterns : a well-defined white mark 

 (collar or half collar) at base of neck, and white cheeks separated by 

 black bar on the throat, 32 specimens; with black throat bar but with 

 no white collar, 21 ; with white collar but with no black on throat, 6 ; 

 with neither white collar nor black throat bar, 7. These divisions 

 have been made rather arbitrarily, for taking any one of the char- 

 acters separately, every conceivable gradation may be found (see 

 plate 1 ) . The white collar may be merely suggested by but a few 

 white feathers on the lower neck, or it may be a solid band of white 

 encircling the neck, an inch or more in width. In one case the white 

 has invaded forward so that nearly all the feathers of the fore neck 

 are tipped with this color. 



The throat may be as purely and extensively white as in canadensis, 

 there may be a few flecks of black along the median line, or there may 

 be a solid black bar. In one or two instances this bar is of such width 

 that the 'white cheek markings are reduced to small, oblong patches 

 (in no. 22026 they measure 44 by 15 mm.). These may be thickly 

 speckled with black. 



The color of underparts ranges from a uniform dark cinnamon or 

 tawny olive to as light a gray as in any specimen of typical canadensis. 

 The rectrices are usually sixteen in number ; of fifty-one birds in which 

 they could be counted, there were forty -six with sixteen tail feathers, 

 three with fourteen, and two with eighteen. 



