409 



CHEN ALBATUS. 



(CASSIN'S SNOW-GOOSE.) 



Anser albatus, Cassin, Proc. Philad. Acad. 1856, p. 41. 

 Chen albatus, Elliot, B. of N. Am. ii. no. 58 (1869). 

 Anser hyperboreus auctt. 



Figura unica* 

 Elliot, Birds of N. Am. pi. 42 (ad.). 



Ad. Cheni hyperboreo similis, sed minor. 



Juv. supra brumiescenti-griseus : fronte et facie albicantibus : remigibus nigris, scapis albis ad apicem brunneis, 

 secundariis vix albido marginatis : tectricibus alarum scapularibusque griseis, conspicue albo marginatis : 

 uropygio supracaudalibusque niveis : caudi alba, rectricibus centralibus medialiter vix griseo lavatis : 

 subtiis albus : rostro nigricante, vix rufescente lavato : pedibus plumbescentibus : iride brunnea. 



Adult. Similar in plumage to Chen hyperboreus, but smaller in size. Total length 233 inches, culmen 212, 

 wing 155, tail 4'7, tarsus 2 - 87. 



Young (Wexford). Upper parts generally dull brownish grey; underparts white, washed with grey on the 

 fore part of the breast and neck ; crown and nape brownish grey ; face white ; feathers on the back and 

 scapulars tipped and margined with whitish, the grey on the latter darker than on the former ; quills 

 black, lighter and washed with grey at the base, the shafts white, shading off into brown towards the 

 tips ; secondaries white at the base and margined and tipped with that colour ; wing-coverts greyish, 

 white at the base, and margined with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail white, the central 

 feathers marked with grey in the middle; bill nearly black, with a reddish tinge, especially on the 

 lower mandible ; tarsi and feet lead-colour, running into yellowish red, especially on the web close to 

 the toes ; iris brown. 



Obs. Mr. Howard Saunders, who most carefully measured the five specimens examined, gives the general 

 measurements as — wing 15 to 1575 inches, tarsus 2 - 87, culmen 2 to 2 - 12; whereas in Chen hyperboreus 

 they vary as follows — wing 17 to 18 - 5 inches, tarsus 3 to 325, and culmen 238 to 2'50. The female 

 differs from the male merely in being a trifle smaller. 



This Goose, differing principally, if not only, in size from Chen hyperboreus, is one of the rarest 

 species known. Cassin, who first described it as a distinct species in 1856, had seen but five 

 specimens. He gives the habitat as " Western and Northern America, Oregon, rare on the 

 Atlantic. A single specimen from Oregon is in the collection of the Exploring Expedition in 

 the 'Vincennes' and 'Peacock;' and four specimens, which occurred in pairs, have come under 

 my notice in the market in Philadelphia in the course of twenty years. These five specimens are 

 all that I have seen of this species ; and it is very probably of rare occurrence on the coast of the 



