1913] 



Swarth : Geese of California 



13 



southern parts of the summer habitat of canadensis, or the summer 

 home of occidentals, we find no such confusion. 



Reasoning from geographical grounds, and in the belief that hutch- 

 insi and minima are two subspecies of the same species, Branta cana- 

 densis, the two forms should certainly not be expected to occur together 

 during the breeding season on the same parts of the Alaskan coast 

 of Bering Sea and on the Aleutian Islands. As hutchinsi is the more 

 eastern species, every alleged occurrence of its breeding in the above 

 region, where minima is known to be common, should be most fully 

 substantiated. Minima is not known to occur elsewhere in summer, 

 and it may be inferred that this is the breeding ground of the race. 



Following is a list of the characters which have been used in litera- 

 ture in differentiating the four subspecies of Branta canadensis. These 

 are compiled from the various handbooks dealing with the subject, and 

 are those characters which have been supposed to be diagnostic. 



