ORINOCO GOOSE 



ALOPOCHEN JUBATUS (Spix) 



(Plate 15) 



Synonymy 

 Anser jubatas Spix, Av. Brasil., vol. 2, p. 84, pi. 108, 1825. 

 Anser polycomos Cuvier (Paris Mus.); Lesson, Traite d'Ornith., p. 627, 1831. 

 Chenalopex jubatus Wagler, Oken's Isis, 1832, col. 1235. 

 Chenalopex jubata G. R. Gray, List Birds British Mus., pt. 3, p. 126, 1844. 

 Alopochen jubata Stejneger, Riverside Nat. Hist., vol. 4, Birds, p. 141, 1888. 



Vernacular Names 



English: Dutch: 



Orinoco Goose Orinoco Gans 



Spix's Goose Spanish: 



German: Carretaro — (Venezuela) 



Orinoco Gans Portuguese: 



French: Marrecao — (Brazil) 



Bernache de 1'Orinoque 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head, neck and breast gray, darker on occiput and hind neck; upper mantle and 

 scapulars rusty brown; lower mantle and inner scapulars blackish. Back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 

 tail and primaries black, with slight purplish gloss. Lesser wing-coverts black, with purple metallic 

 gloss; secondaries green metallic, but with a white speculum; abdomen and flanks rusty red, except 

 for a whitish area in mid-line; under tail-coverts white. 



Iris brown; feet and legs dark salmon-red to pink flesh -color; bill black, except flesh-colored on 

 lower mandible, and at base of culmen (Carriker on M. C. Z. specimen). 



Wing 326 mm.; bill 41 ; tarsus 80. 



Adult Female: Similar, but slightly smaller. Wing 305 mm.; bill 36 to 37; tarsus 70. 



Immature: Said by Mr. F. E. Blaauw to be a "weak, washed out copy of the dress of the adults" 

 (Hubbard, 1907). 



Young in Down (specimens in Leyden Museum) : This is very easily distinguished from the young of 

 the Egyptian Goose by a large square dark-brown patch behind and below the eye. It has a general 

 resemblance to the yoimg of the Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis) and also to the Common Sheldrake. 

 The occiput is dark brown to black and this color extends down the back of the neck as a narrow band. 

 There is a broad, white supra-ocular band extending down the sides of the neck over the square brown 

 face-patch, combining with the white of the neck and breast. There is also a narrow and poorly de- 

 fined trans-ocular streak. The remainder of its upper side is almost as in the Sheldrake. There are 

 broad white " lateral-line " patches running from under the wings to the tail and there are large white 



