te HYPOTHETICAL LIST. 741 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: ‘Head, neck, chest, scapulars, and wings (except quills) white; rest of 
plumage, including stripe on top of head and broad ring around neck, deep black; stiffened 
feathers of cheeks brownish white. Adult female: Uniform brownish gray, the wings 
more plumbeous; tertials silvery gray, edged with blackish; secondaries white, primaries 
dusky. Young male: Similar to adult female, but chin and throat white, and white 
chest of adult male strongly indicated; greater wing-coverts white. Length 18 to 23.73, 
wing 8.50 to 8.90, culmen 1.60 to 1.70 inches” (Ridgway). 
Greater Snow Goose. Chen hyperboreus nivalis (Iorst.). (169a) 
Similar to the Lesser Snow Goose, but averaging decidedly larger. 
If this bird occurs at all in Michigan it must be merely as a strageler. 
While it is stated that the range during winter is from the Atlantic coast 
to the Mississippi Valley, we have no unquestionable record for Michigan, 
or in fact for neighboring parts of the Great Lake region. It is believed 
to nest in the far north, east of the Mackenzie Basin, but its nest and egg 
appear to be unknown, and the nesting grounds as stated above seem to 
be rather an inference than a known fact. 
There seem to be slight differences in shape of the bill in the two forms, 
but they are most readily discriminated by their measurements, the present 
form being decidedly larger than the Lesser Snow Goose. 
White-cheeked Goose. Branta canadensis occidentalis (Baird). (172b) 
This is a variety or geographical race of the Canada Goose, belonging 
properly on the Pacific coast from Sitka to California, and its presence in 
Michigan is extremely inprobable. It rests solely on the statement of 
the late W. H. Collins of Detroit, that he had seen specimens which were 
taken at St. Clair Flats. He was very likely mistaken, at all events there 
are no specimens or other evidence to confirm his statement. 
Cackling Goose. Branta canadensis minima Ridgw. (172c) 
This is another northwestern coast subspecies whose breeding ground 
is in Alaska, but which during migration sometimes straggles into the 
Mississippi Valley. Like the preceding its place in the Michigan list 
rests only on the word of the late W. H. Collins, who was probably mistaken 
in his identification. According to Dr. Gibbs, and some other writers, 
the name Cackling Goose is commonly used for the Snow Goose, and it is 
not impossible that Collins merely intended to record the capture of the 
Snow Goose under this name. 
Black Brant. Branta nigricans (Lawrence). (174) 
Similar to the common Eastern Brant, (B. b. glaucogastra) but has white 
streaks or flecks on the front as well as sides of neck, forming a white 
collar in the adult; also much darker below than the Eastern form. 
This is a bird of the western shore of the continent, breeding in Alaska 
and western Arctic America and ranging south in winter along the entire 
California coast. Its presence anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains 
is entirely accidental, and it is extremely unlikely that it ever has been 
seen in Michigan. 
The occasional references to Black Brant by contributors to sporting 
