202 ANATID^. 



1. Anser gambeli. 



Anser albifrons (nee Scop.)j Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 531 '. 



Anser gambeli, Hartl. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1852, p. 7'; Dugfes, La Nat. i. p. 143'; Lawr. Mem. 



Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 313 ' ; Sumichr. La Nat. v. p. 233 ' ; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 



xxvii. p. 95 °. 

 Anser albifrons gambeli, Baird, Brewer, & Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Araer. i. p. 448'; A. O. U. 



Cheek-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 61 ' ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 171 ' ; 



Herrera, La Nat. (2) i. pp. 187 '", 329 ". 



Supra brunnescens, fronte et plumis ad basin mandibulae albis ; tectricibus alarum pallidiore brunneo margi- 

 natis, majoribus externe albis, fasciam eonspicuam formantibus ; remigibus nigris, primariis griseo lavatis ; 

 Bupracaudalibus albis ; rectricibus brunnescenti-nigris, albo terminatis ; gutture brunnesceute, pUeo 

 concolore ; corpore reliquo subtus brunneacenti-albo, pectore et abdomine fasciis et maculis nigris 

 irregulariter notatis ; hypocbondriis brunneis, plumis pallidiore brunneo marginatis : rostro lactescenti- 

 albo, mandibula plerumque et culminis basi fiavis ; pedibus flavis. Long, tota circa 29-0, alas 16"0, 

 caudae 6-0, culm. 2'3, tarsi 2-5. (Descr. maris adulti ex St. Micbael's, Alaska. Mus. nostr.) 



5 mari similis, sed paullo minor. 



Juv. adultig similis, sed saturatior et magis concolor ; maculis nigris pectoralibus nullis. 



Eab. North America, rare on the Atlantic coast, breeding far to the northward, in 

 winter south to Cape San Lucas ^. — Mexico (Wagler^), Mazatlan {Grayson^), 

 Guanajuato (Duges ^), Valley of Mexico (Herrera ^o i^), savannas of Nopalapam, 

 Vera Cruz, and Santa Maria del Mar, Tehuantepec {Sumichr ast^), San Marcos, 

 Puebla {Ferrari-Perez ^). — Cuba ^ ; Coast of Eastern Asia, Japan ^. 



This Goose differs from the European A. albifrons only in its larger size. It breeds 

 in great numbers in Arctic America and on the islands of the Polar Sea, passing 

 north, in large flocks, at the same lime as the Snow-Goose. The species goes south in 

 autumn and ranges as far as Mexico, where it is a regular winter visitant. Accordino- 

 to Grayson, A. gambeli appears in considerable numbers at Mazatlan from September 

 to February, and the bird occurs on both coasts, as Sumichrast speaks of lar^e 

 flocks in Tehuantepec and Vera Cruz. Ferrari-Perez records it from San Marcos in 

 the State of Puebla, and Herrera from the Valley of Mexico, where its native name is 

 " Tlalacatl." 



The habits of this bird do not differ from those of other northern Geese, but it 

 seems occasionally to make a more substantial nest than some of its allies — a depression 

 in the ground being well lined with hay, down, and feathers. In Alaska, however, 

 Mr. Dall found the eggs laid in a hollow in the sand without any lining whatever. 

 The eggs vary from six to ten in number, and are indistinguishable from those of the 

 Snow-Goose. 



BEANTA. 



Branta, Scop. Hist. Nat. Ann. i. p. 67 (1769) ; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. Ill (1895). 



The serrations on the edge of the upper mandible in this genus are not visible from 



outside, as in Chen and Anser, and the tomium is almost straight. Count Salvadori 



