i5 2 Geese of Europe and Asia 



The material at my disposal, however, was not sufficient to establish the extremes of 

 the dimensions for the two sexes. 



Total length, 3 and ? 584-889 mm. ( = 23.50-30.50 in.). 



Win g 3 1 2-345 mm. (= 12.30-13.60 in.). 



Culmen ......... 30-38 mm. (= 1. 20-1. 50 in.). 



Tarsus 53-61 mm. ( = 2.10-2.40 in.). 



The number of teeth on each side of the upper mandible is 28-30 in the examples I 

 have examined, but perhaps these are not the extreme limits. 



Younger Adults 



General colouring somewhat lighter than in old birds. Often rufous or coffee tint 

 on edgings of feathers of upper surface ; white patches on sides of neck less developed. 



Young Birds in First Plumage 



White patches on sides of neck absent ; breast scarcely darker than belly and flanks, 

 and latter without light edgings to feathers ; lesser wing-coverts with conspicuous light 

 greyish edgings ; median and greater wing-coverts with very light whitish edgings. Inner 

 secondaries with greyish-white tips. 



Young in Down 



Above dark grey, below greyish white, without any yellowish tint ; cheeks and throat 

 whitish ; end of nail on upper mandible whitish (Middendorff). 



The above descriptions concern the dresses of the typical form of this goose, from 

 which the following form, Branta bernicla glaucogaster, differs apparently only by the 

 colouring of the under surface of the body, and its somewhat different range, which will be 

 discussed in its proper place. On account, however, of the difficulty of distinguishing to 

 which of two races of brent (so often confounded by authors), many statements refer, 

 I have cited the whole at the beginning of the present notice. 



Geographical Distribution 



The breeding-grounds of this goose at the present day nowhere extend south of the 

 Arctic circle. The species is credibly known to nest eastwards on the Taimyr peninsula, but 

 as to the still more easterly part of Siberia we cannot yet say where it meets the black 

 brent, although it is quite possible that, before this sees the light, Baron Toll's expedition to 

 the New Siberian Islands will have thrown considerable light on this question. 1 In the 

 Taimyr peninsula this brent has been found on the eastern coast in 77 N. lat. ; on the 

 western, between 75 and 76!° N. lat. ; on the river Boganida in 70 , and on the river 

 Taimyr in 73!° N. lat. On the Yenisei it has not yet been found south of 72 N. lat., 

 where Mr. Popham obtained young in down. To the west of this point it doubtless breeds 

 over the whole tundra to the Kaninsk peninsula, although there are no trustworthy data on 

 the subject. It nests in Novaia Zemlia and Kolguev, where it breeds in large numbers, and 

 probably for the most part in the north-eastern part of the former island. Farther north it 



1 Birulya, the naturalist of the expedition, has brought a black brant from these islands (1904). 



