ANATIDiE— TllH SWANS, GEKHK, AND UUCK8. 1 19 



b. Lower parts doop prayish brown i>r brownish gray (often but littlo paler than up- 

 per parts), abruptly contrasti^d with whit»3 of anal rogion: whito ch'^ek-patches 

 usually soparutcd tiy a black throat-striiKj; white collar round lower n(;ck usually 

 very distinct. 



3. B. canadensis minima. Smallest (wing lose than 16.00 inches, culmen less than 

 1.135); tail-feathers 14-16; length about 23.00-25.00; wing 13.60-14.50; culmen 0.95-1.15; 

 tarsus 2.40-2.7.5. 



B. Head, neck, and chest black, the middle of the neck with a white patch on ea/h side, 

 or a wide collar of the same, interrupted behind. 



4. B. bernicla. Wing, 12.30-13.60 inches; culmen, 1.2(M. 50; tarsus, 2.10-2.40; middle 

 toe 1.70-2.10. \Yhite of the neck confined to two broken (streaked) patches on 

 each side. Above, brownish gray, the feathers narrowly tipped with grayish 

 white; wing-coverts nearly uniform, more bluish gray; remiges, rump, middle 

 upper tail-coverts, and rectrices, brownish black;- terminal and lateral upper 

 fail-coverts, crissum, and anal region white; lower parts pale gray, the feathers 

 tipped with grayish white, abrnbtly and strongly contrasted with the black of 

 the chest and fading insensibly into the white of the anal region. 



Thore is probably no more perplexing problem in North 

 American ornithology than the relationship of the three forms 

 which are named above as races of £. caiiadensis. Comparing 

 a very large true B. canadensis with a small B. minima, no one 

 probablj' would for a moment think of considering them the 

 same species; yet in a large series of specimens so many exam- 

 ples occur which seem to connect both these extremes with the 

 middle-sized B. hutchiyisii, that the chain appears to be com- 

 plete; not only is the size thus variable, but every character of 

 coloration also appears to be unreliable. It may be that these 

 intermediate specimens are hybrids, but whether such is the 

 true explanation or not cannot now be determined. 



Branta canadensis (Linn.) 



CANADA GOOSE. 



Popular synonyms. Common Wild Goose; Big Wild Goose; Honker; Reef Goose (North 



Carolina); Bay Goose (Texas); Cravat Goose. 

 Anas canadensis LiNN. S.N. ed. 10, i. 1758,125; ed. 12, i, 1766. 108.— Wixs. Am. Orn. viii, 



1814, 52, (r?, f. 4. 

 Auser canadensis Vieill. Euc. Meth. 1823, 114.— Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii. 1S31, 46.S.— Nutt. 



Man.ii, 18:34,34!).— AuD. Orn. Biog.iii.lSiS.l; v. 1839.607, pi, 201; Synop. 1839,270; B. Am. 



vi, 1^13, 178. pi. 376. 

 Bernicla canadensis BoiE, Isis, 1826, 921. —Baird. B. N. Am. 1858. .xlLx. 764; Cat. N. Am. B. 



ia59. No. 567.— RiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 594.— CouES. Key, Check List, 2d ed. 



1882, No. 702. 

 Branta canadensis Bannist. Proc. Acad. Nat. Soi. Phila. 1870, 131.— CouES, Key, 1872, 2S3; 



Check List, 1873. No. 485; Birds N. W. 1874, 554.— Hensh. Zool. Wheeler's Exp. ISrs. 



471.-A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 172.— Ridgw. Orn. 40th Par. 1877, 620; Man. N. Am. 



B. 1887, 117. 



