762 



V. S, p. K. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



The white forehead is very conspicuous. Another specimen goes to the opposite extreme in 

 having the hreast and belly continuously black, with only an occasional blotch of gray. 



It is quite possible that this continent possesses two species of white fronted geese, but in 

 the specimen before me I am unable to detect any constant differences of importance. 



The difference between the European and American white fronted geese, according to Hart- 

 laub, consists in the much larger bill of the latter. This in A. gambelii measures over two 

 inches, instead of 1.50^ as in A. albifrons. 



List of specimens. 



ANSER FRONTALIS, Baird. 



Sp. Ch. — Bill apparently red; the nail blackish. The head and neck brown, darker above, and the space round the base of 

 the bill much darker than elsewhere, instead of being white. The scapular region and wing coverts are purer and darker brown 

 than the head, each feather edged with paler, excepting the lesser coverts, which are more ashy. The greater coverts are 

 broadly tipped with whitish. The lower back, tail, primary, and secondary quills, are very dark brown; the tail narrowly 

 tipped with white ; the exposed portion of the primaries dark ashy. The sides of the rump, the upper and under tail coverts, 

 and the region about the anus are whitish ; the rest of the under parts are also whitish, each feather being brown and edged with 

 this whitish color. The sides are continuously dark brown, hut edged with the paler color of the head. The inside of wings 

 and axillars are dark slate. Length about 26.00; wing, 16.75 ; tarsus, 2.92; commissure, 2.12. 



Sab. — Interior of North America. 



This goose is very similar to the common American white fronted goose in general appearance, 

 the principal difference being the replacing of the white round the base of the bill by a brown, 

 darker than that of the head, and the absence of black irregular blotches beneath, each feather 

 having iiistead a dusky centre. The wings are precisely the same. The dusky nail of the bill 

 instead of a white one appears to be characteristic. 



I have not met with any indication of this goose in any American writer, and I am inclined 

 to believe it a distinct and undescribed species. The young white fronted goose is said to have 

 the white front indicated by a few white feathers ; the under plumage plain gray. An Anser 

 temminckii {A. minutus, Naum.) from Europe is much smaller than the European albifrons, with 

 a dark nail, but the front is white. Anser bruchii of Brehm, (A. medius of Bruch,) likewise 

 European, has the forehead uniform with the rest of the head, not darker ; the breast is dusky ; 

 the nail of the bill is dark colored, as in the present bird ; the size appears smaller. 



For the present, therefore, I have no other alternative but to impose a new name on the 



