216 University of California Publications in Zoology [| Vou. 17 
hypothesis must depend upon future investigation. With Anser albi- 
frons albifrons occurring commonly in the western United States 
during the winter months, it would seem fair to assume that the 
known summer range of the subspecies, covering northern Europe 
and Asia, also extends continuously over western Alaska, and for an 
undetermined distance eastward. Pursuing this hypothesis, and 
assuming, as we have the right to do, that the two races do not occur 
together during the breeding season, we may infer that the summer 
home of the large A. a. gambeli is restricted to points farther eastward 
in Arctic America than the region inhabited by A. a. albifrons. This 
distribution would explain the relative scarcity of the first mentioned 
upon the Pacifie Coast. Study of specimens from the Mississippi 
Valley.and points farther east should go far toward confirming or 
refuting this theory, for upon the hypothesis advanced, the condition 
existing there, must be the opposite of that obtaining in California. 
There should be, namely, an abundance of the larger Anser a. gambeli, 
and a searcity of the smaller race. In this connection it is of interest 
to note a comment made by Nelson (1877, p. 186) upon specimens 
from Illinois: ‘‘I have examined a number of specimens, which by 
correct comparison were at least one-fourth smaller than the average.”’ 
The white-fronted goose is known, of course, to breed commonly 
in Alaska, but there are no Alaskan skins at hand for comparison; 
nor have we been able to discover published measurements of speci-— 
mens either from this section or elsewhere in America, in which 
dimensions of specified individuals are given together with explicit 
statements of exact place of capture. Consequently the assumption 
that the breeding bird of western Alaska is identical with the smaller 
of the two subspecies visiting California in winter, is an unproven 
hypothesis. It ean be said, however, that measurements of eggs from 
the Yukon region, as given by Nelson (1887, p. 83) agree reasonably 
well with the dimensions given by Alphéraky (1905, p. 56) for those 
of the European bird. Eggs of a set in the Museum of Vertebrate 
Zoology (no. 714) from Cape Vancouver, Alaska, are close to the 
minimum dimensions given by Alphéraky. It would seem that eggs 
of the large sized A. gambeli should be measurably larger than those 
of A. albifrons. 
In considering the possible continuity of range of Anser a. albi- 
frons over Asia and Alaska, mention must be made of a goose taken 
by Stejneger (1885, p. 145) upon Bering Island, which he records 
as Anser a. gambeli, saying that ‘‘it matches average North American 
