1913] S u-ii rl li : Geese of California 5 



The black neck usually shades gradually into the brown of the 

 breast, but in sonic the gray-colored birds, it is about as sharply 

 defined as in < anndi nsis. In several instances there is a well-defined 

 black area on the upper breast, just below the white collar. 



As each of the above characters varies independently of the others 

 there is very little uniformity of appearance in a series of these birds, 

 and, except in very general terms, it is not possible to designate for 

 the subspecies any character of color or pattern. 



The accompanying plates illustrate some of this variation. One 

 (plate 2) figures six specimens showing white collar and black 

 throat patch in different combinations. The other (plate 1) shows 

 two series of selected winter specimens, illustrating, respectively, varia- 

 tion in extent of white collar and of black throat patch. To our present 

 knowledge these variations in color and pattern are not correlated with 

 any peculiarities in the geographical distribution of the subspecies, but 

 are due to individual variation, greater in this than in any other of the 

 races of Branta canad< nsis. To ascertain postively that this is the 

 case, however, will require the collecting of an extensive series of 

 minima upon the breeding grounds. 



Altogether, the small size of minima, and particularly its very small 

 bill, seem to be about its best diagnostic characters; but in this an 

 arbitrary line must be drawn for separation from hutchinsi, for speci- 

 mens will be found showing every degree of gradation between the two. 



Comparative length of tarsus and middle-toe-and-claw seems to 

 be a fairly dependable character, for minima is a decidedly long-legged 

 bird as compared with canadensis. With a few exceptions in each 

 case, it may be said that in canadensis the middle-toe-and-claw is appre- 

 ciably longer than the tarsus, in hutchinsi the middle-toe-and-claw is 

 about the same length as the tarsus, and in minima the tarsus is longer. 



Branta canadensis occidentalis 



Of this race there are in the Museum collection eight skins of use 

 in this connection ; from the Sitkan district, southeastern Alaska, four 

 specimens (nos. 18, 19, 9916, 23245). two adult males, an adult female. 

 and the head and neck of an immature bird; from Prince William 

 Sound, Alaska, four specimens (nos. 1129, 1130, 1132, 1133). two 

 adult males, an adult female, and the head and neck of another adult 

 female. 



