( 568 ) 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Anser albifrons, Bechst. 



PLATE CCLXXXVI. Male. 



Neither Wilson nor Ndttall seem to have been aware of the 

 regularity with which this species migrates through the United States. 

 When I shewed a drawing of it to the first of these authors, he pronounced 

 it to be a young Snow Goose, although I described to him its peculiar 

 notes. During the whole of my residence in Kentucky, a winter never 

 passed without my seeing a good number of them ; and at that season 

 they are frequently offered for sale in the markets of New Orleans. An 

 English gentleman, who was on his way to the settlement of Birkbeck in 

 the Prairies west of the Ohio, and who spent a few weeks with me at 

 Henderson, was desirous of having a tasting of some of our game. His 

 desire was fully gratified, and the first that was placed before him was a 

 White-fronted Goose. I had killed seven of these birds, the evening 

 before, in a pond across the Ohio, which was regularly supplied with 

 flocks from the beginning of October to the end of March. He pro- 

 nounced it " delicious,"" and I have no reason to dissent from his opinion. 

 From the numbers seen high on the Arkansas River, I presume that 

 many winter beyond the southern limits of the United States. They are 

 exceedingly rare, however, along our Atlantic coast. In Kentucky they 

 generally arrive before the Canada Goose, betaking themselves to the 

 grassy ponds ; and of the different species which visit that country they 

 are by far the least shy. The flocks seldom exceed from thirty to fifty 

 individuals. Their general appearance is that exhibited in the plate, and 

 which I consider as their winter plumage, feehng pretty confident that 

 in summer the lower part of the body becomes pure black. 



The flight of the White-fronted is very similar to that of the Canada 

 Goose, being firm and well sustained. When travelling, these birds pass 

 at a considerable height, arranged in the same angular order, and ap- 

 parently guided by one of the older Ganders. They walk with ease, and 

 can run with considerable speed when wounded. In feeding they im- 

 merse their necks, like other species ; but during continued rains they 

 visit the cornfields and large savannahs. While in Kentucky they feed 

 on the beech nuts and acorns that drop along the margins of their fa- 



