27° WATER FOWL. 



GENUS ANSER 

 (Latin anser, a goose). 



Anser, Briss. Orn., 1760, vol. vi., p. 261. Type Anas anser, 

 Linn. 



Bill stout, not longer than head, depth at base less than half 

 the length of culmen, tapering to tip. Serrations of maxilla 

 visible when bill is closed. Nostrils on basal half of maxilla, 

 placed high up near culmen. Tarsus shorter than middle toe 

 and claw. 



The White-fronted Geese of the Old and New Worlds have 

 been separated as a species and subspecies on a difference of 

 size averaging one inch in the total length of the adult and 

 .37 inch in extent of the culmen. This is a worse case than 

 the Snow Geese, because the White-fronted Geese of the two 

 hemispheres are so nearly equal in their dimensions that, the 

 locality of a specimen being unknown, its identification is im- 

 possible, for it would not be difficult to find individuals among 

 the European White-fronted Geese that were even larger than 

 some of the American. 



As I have had occasion to remark, when writing of certain 

 other species in this book, size alone is a most unsatisfactory 

 character (?) to go by in determining species or subspecies, and 

 when persisted in is most apt to create confusion. 



In this instance I do not consider that this slight difference of 

 dimensions is of sufficient consequence to cause the recognition 

 of two forms of this Goose, and in this book, therefore, I have 

 placed the species and its so-called subspecies under the name 

 bestowed by Gmelin, and after careful study of the question, and 

 examination of examples from both hemispheres, I should require 

 better evidence than any yet produced to convince me that it is 

 desirable to establish more than one form of this species. 



GENUS PHILACTE 

 (Greek ^iXos, philos, loving + i.KTi), akte, seashore). 



Philacte, Bann. Proc. Acad. Scien., Phila., 1870, p. 131. 

 Type Anas canagica, Sevast. 



Bill stout, with the teeth exposed only at angle of the mouth. 

 Nostrils situated on anterior end of the nasal fossae. Nail prom- 



