200 THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 



very broad and abrupt, of the breast and belly broadly rounded. Wings 

 long; primaries strong, curved, the second longest, but the first and third 

 almost as long, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries long, rather narrow, 

 rounded. Tail short, slightly rounded, of sixteen rounded feathers. 



Bill, feet, and claws black. Iris brown. Head and two upper thirds of 

 the neck glossy black. A large subtriangular patch of white on each side of 

 the head and neck. The general colour of the upper parts is brownish-grey, 

 the feathers margined with paler; of the lower parts pale greyish-brown, 

 margined with yellowish-grey; the abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; 

 the hind part of the back brownish-black. The primary quills and tail- 

 feathers are deep brown. 



Length to end of tail 25 inches, extent of wings 50; wing from flexure 

 16|; tail 5f; bill along the back 1^, along the edge of lower mandible 1^; 

 tarsus 2\; middle toe 2, its claw T 4 g-. Weight A\ lbs. 



In the Fauna Boreali-Americana, the tail-feathers are stated to be fourteen. 

 In my specimen they are sixteen, and it is probable that the full number is 

 eighteen, as the two middle ones seem to be wanting. 



THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 



tAnseb. leucopsis, Bechst. 



PLATE CCCLXXVIII Male and Female. 



Several old gunners on the coast of Massachusetts and Maine, who were 

 Englishmen by birth, assured me that they had killed Bernacles there, and 

 that these birds brought a higher price in the markets than the Common 

 Brent Geese. The Prince of Musignano states in his Synopsis that they are 

 very rare and accidental in the United States, and Mr. Nuttall says that 

 they are "mere stragglers" there. For my part, I acknowledge that I never 

 met with one of them, either along the coast or in the interior, although I 

 have seen beautiful mounted specimens in various parts. Being neither 

 anxious to add to our Fauna, nor willing unnecessarily to detract from it, I 

 have figured a pair of these birds, with the hope that ere long, the assertions 

 of the gunners, and those of the authors above mentioned, may be abundantly 



