Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 353 



Manual of North American Birds, The A. O. U. Check List, and other 

 works, as a straggling migrant. A small goose with short neck, 

 minimum amount of black, dark under parts, and distinct white 

 crescent at the forward lower part of black neck marking, is of fre- 

 quent occurrence in Wisconsin, sometimes in large flocks made up of 

 this kind entirely, and again in company with geese of every varying 

 degree of size and marking. 



" Specimens of this character have been examined of barely 

 six pounds weight, and in the collection of Mr. Skavlem is a specimen 

 weighing five and one-half pounds, which we think could be called 

 typical minima. These birds are locally known as ' bull necks ' 

 by the sportsmen. As with the case of hutchinsii compared with 

 canadensis, there are also intermediates of every varying degree 

 between this form and both the others. There are occasionally large 

 geese with dark under parts, slender necks, and a distinct collar of 

 white on lower neck. The cheek patches appear to be indifferently 

 separated by black on throat or unbroken among geese of all sizes, 

 shape, and coloration. We have examined carefully many dozens of 

 fresh specimens killed at all times from early fall until late spring and 

 frankly admit our inability to satisfactorily unravel the ' goose ques- 

 tion ' in Wisconsin." (Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 29.) 



72. Branta bernicla glaucogastra (Brehm). 

 Brant. 



Branta bernicla (Linn.), A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 63. 



Distr.: Arctic regions, breeding in the far north; south in winter 

 along the Atlantic coast to the Carolinas, casual in Florida and acci- 

 dental in the West Indies. Stragglers have been recorded from Indi- 

 ana, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. 



Adult: Whole of the head, neck, and upper breast, black, except 

 the sides of the neck, which are speckled with white; back, grayish 

 brown; longer tail coverts, white; lower breast, grayish, shading into 

 white on the belly. 



Length, 25; wing, 13; tarsus, 2.25; bill, 1.30. 



The Brant must be included upon the authority of various writers, 

 but if it occurs at all so far in the interior, it is merely an accidental 

 straggler. Hearsay evidence is of little or no value as regards this 

 species, as many of the smaller geese are called Brant by the "gunners." 



Prof. Ridgway includes it in his Ornithology of Illinois on the 

 authority of Prof. Cooke. " During the winter of 1883-84, this species 

 was represented from Illinois southward by a few rare visitants. 



