234 duck. 



16.-SN0YV GOOSE. 



Auas hyperborea, Ind. Orn. ii. 837. Gin. Lin. i. 5041 Tcm.Man.hlb. Id. Ed. 2d. 810. 



Anser niveus, Bris. vi. 288. Id. 8vo. ii. 438. Klein, Av. p. 130. 



Anser hyperboreus, Pallas, Spic. vi. p. 2G. Boroivs/c. iii. p. 14. 



Anser Branta, White Brant Goose, Bartr. Trav. 292. Laws. Car. p. 147. Am. Orn. 



viii. 70. pi. 08. f. 5.— male. Id. 09. f. 5.— female. 

 Anas nivalis, Phil. Trans, lxii. 413. 443. No. 45. JFn. ^4/ner. p. 16. 

 Die Schnee Gans, Bechsl. Deuts. ii. 578. 

 L'Oie blanche, Voy. d' Azara, iv. No. 426. 

 Snow Goose, Gen. Syn. vi. 445. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 477. 



SIZE of a Tame Goose; length two feet eight inches ; weight 

 five or six pounds; extent three feet and a half. Bill somewhat 

 serrated on the edge ; the upper mandible scarlet, the lower whitish; 

 irides reddish; forehead very pale yellow ; plumage in general snow 

 white,* except the ten first quills, which are black, with white 

 shafts ; lower order of coverts and bastard wing cinereous, with the 

 shafts black; legs deep red. The young are of a blue colour, till 

 they are a year old. 



They are very numerous at Hudson's Bay, and called by the 

 natives Way way, and Wapa whe vvhe. Visit Severn River in May, 

 and stay a fortnight; but proceed farther north to breed;! they 

 return to Severn Fort the beginning of September, and stay to the 

 middle of October, when they depart southward, with their young, 

 in flocks innumerable. At this time many thousands are killed by 

 the inhabitants ; who pluck them, and taking out the entrails, put 

 their bodies into holes dug in the ground, covering them with earth, 

 which, freezing above, keeps them perfectly sweet throughout the 

 severe season; during which the inhabitants occasionally open one of 

 these storehouses, when they find them sweet and good. 



* Mr. Hutchins observes, that the wing coverts are light blue ; perhaps such birds may 

 not have arrived at their state of perfection. 



f Met with by Capt. Parry, at Cockburn Isle. Mr. Crozier found a nest of one with 

 five eggs, Second Voyage, p. 462. 



