482 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGT. 



ANSEB HTPEBBORETJS.— Pallas. 



The Snow Goose. 



Aascr %wAocews, Pallas. Spie. Zool., VI. (1767) 35. Nutt. Man., II. 344. 

 *.ud. Orn. Biog., IV. a« ; *! »<«. 76., Birds Am., VI. (lSiS) 213. 

 Anas hyp&tarta. Gm., I. 5M. Wils. Am. Orn., VIII, (1SU 5 76. 



Dkschii-iiox. 



AMI. — Bill and legs red; color pure-white; primary quills black towards the 

 end. silvery-bluish gray towards the base, where the shafts are white; the spurious 

 quills are also bluish; inside of wings, except primary quills, white; immature birds 

 have the head washed with rusty. 



Yomg. — Head and upper part of neck white ; lower part of neck to the wings 

 dark-brown, passing on the rides of body into a more ashy shade ; rest of under 

 parts, concealed portions of the back, rump, and upper coverts, white; the entire 

 scapular and scapular region is ashy-brown, each feather with faint reddish-brown 

 margin ; the upper surface of the wing is of a clear silvery-ash, but passing into dark- 

 brown on the ends of the quills ; the coverts, secondaries, tertials, and scapulars, 

 edged with white; iris light-brown. 



Length, about thirty inches; wing, sixteen and forty one-hundredths ; tarsus, 

 three and twelve one-hundredths j commissure, two and ten one-hundredths inches. 



This is another rare species cm our New-England sea 

 coast. As a general thing-, it is only seen during the winter ; 

 but we have, in the Massachusetts State Cabinet, a fine speci- 

 men that was taken in Boston Harbor, in July, 18iu>. It is 

 strictly a northern species, and hardly belongs to o\ir fauna. 



Dr. Richardson, in describing its breeding habits, says, 

 " It breeds in the barren grounds of Arctic America, in 

 great numbers. The eggs, of a yellowish-white color and 

 regularly ovate form, are a little larger than those of the 

 Eider Duck; their length being throe inches, and their 

 greatest breadth two. The young fly in August ; and, by 

 the middle of September, all have departed to the south- 

 ward. The Snow Goose feeds on rushes, insects, and in 

 autumn on berries, particularly those of the JSmpetrum 

 nigrum." 



BERNICLA, Stephens. 



Beniicla, STBrHK-vs, Shaw's Gen. Zool., XII. (1824) 48. (Typo Anns brr- 

 nicla, L.) 



Bill about as long as head or shorter; the commissure nearly straight; the teeth 

 of upper mandible concealed, except perhaps at the base; bill and legs black. 



