UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 
IN 
ZOOLOGY 
Vol. 17, No. 11, pp. 209-222, plate 13, 2 figures in text October 19, 1917 
ASS DUD ORDA RACES OF THE WHITEH- 
FRONTED GOOSE (ANSER ALBIFRONS) 
OCCURRING IN CALIFORNIA 
BY fi. 
H. S. SWARTH anp HAROLD C. BRYANT 
(Contribution from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California) 
It seems almost incredible that the presence of a bird as conspic- 
uous as a goose should have remained unknown to science until this 
late date in a state where ornithology has been studied as intensively 
as in California. But recent information proves this to have been 
the ease. The fact is now established that two well-defined subspecies 
of Anser albifrons occur in California during the winter months, 
instead of the single race heretofore recognized. 
For the material employed in demonstrating the differences be- 
tween the two forms the authors are indebted primarily to Judge 
F. W. Henshaw, of the Supreme Court of California, and also to 
Mr. George Neale, in charge of the Sacramento office of the California 
Fish and Game Commission. It was through the latter that we re- 
ceived our first intimation of the existence within this state of a gray 
goose different from the common species. Judge Henshaw secured 
and donated to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology a series of fourteen 
specimens, sufficient in number for the prosecution of a detailed study, 
and he also supplied valuable written notes upon the habits of these 
two races of geese as observed in their winter home. Mr. Neale 
donated two specimens, as described beyond, and also gave us written 
notes regarding the habits and appearance of the birds in life. 
We are under indebtedness of another sort to Dr. Barton W. Ever- 
mann, director of the California Academy of Sciences, who permitted 
