214 University of California Publications in Zoology | Vou. 17 
Howsoever they were taken, Hartlaub’s measurements show about 
the same proportional differences between the two races he had in 
hand, as there are in our two sets of birds. His new species was 
evidently a very large bird, and one, at least, of the measurements 
he gives of it can be applied to the larger of our two forms. It seems 
safe to say, therefore, that the name Anser albifrons gambeli should 
be used for our large tule goose. 
The question then arises as to the status of our small white-fronted 
goose, which is evidently by far the more common of the two in 
California. European writers have been reluctant to recognize an 
American race of Anser albifrons. Salvadori (1895, p. 97) describes 
gambeli as ‘‘searecely different from A. albifrons; on the average it 
is larger and has a bigger bill.’’ Alphéraky (1905, p. 42) refuses to 
recognize gambeli at all, though conceding that occasional specimens 
from North America attain a greater size than any European birds. 
Of deseriptions and measurements as given in most of the American 
literature on the subject, it may be said that the diagnoses are not 
convincing as proofs of the subspecifie identity of Anser a. gambeli, 
though there is throughout recurrent mention of occasional unusually 
large sized birds. (In this connection see Coues, 1874, p. 547.) It 
seems likely that confusion has arisen through failure to discriminate 
between two perfectly distinct races, and that the explanation of the 
puzzle is as follows: That gambeli exists as a distinguishable North 
American subspecies of large size, as originally described, but that 
there also exists in North America another form of smaller size, and 
that the two occur together during the winter months. The smaller 
bird is, to all appearances, indistinguishable from the European form. 
In other words, the race of the white-fronted goose which is most 
common on the Pacific coast of North America is Anser albifrons albi- 
frons (Seopoli). 
In testing this theory reference should be made to the aecompany- 
ing tables. The measurements of European A. albifrons albifrons 
are taken from Alphéraky’s (1905, p. 46) careful study of the 
species. The California series of this subspecies used in comparison 
was collected at Los Banos, Merced County, during the winter of 
1911-12. It will be noted that the measurements of this last series 
fall within the extremes given for the European birds. No European 
or Asiatic specimens are available for actual comparison, but no differ- 
ences, save of size, are claimed to exist between these and American 
birds, and as it is evident that there are no size differences between 
