BIRD NAMES. 



[No. 4. 



Two varieties are recognized by ornithologists, viz. : Lesser 

 Snow Goose, Chen hyperborea, and Greater, Chen hyperborea ni- 

 valis, these being practically alike in form and coloration. 



Measurements of smaller bird somewhere about as follows: 

 Length twenty-five inches; extent fifty-two inches. The larger 

 variety : length twenty-seven to thirty-one inches ; extent fifty- 

 six to sixty-two inches. The two grading towards one another 

 confusingly. 



Another, and less common plumage is that formerly, or at 

 different times, regarded as belonging to a bird distinct from 

 either of the preceding, and again as representing simply a 

 stage in the development of the Snow Goose dress. Birds thus 

 arrayed have been labelled Chen cmrulescens. This name is 



Chen ccBrulescens. 



placed in the " Hypothetical List " of the new Check List,* as 

 " possibly " representing a separate variety. These birds are of 

 the same shape as the snow geese, and are surely most closely 

 allied to them. Head and upper half of neck white ; remaining 

 plumage principally grayish brown with more or less bluish gray, 

 the feathers ending paler ; edgings of white to back portions of 

 plumage ; tone of lower neck dusky ; wings plain light bluish 



* Published by the Am. Ornithologists' Union, 1886. 



