494 SNOW GOOSE. 



in the State of Delaware. They feed on the roots of the 

 reeds there, tearing them up from the marshes like hogs. 

 Their flesh, like most others of their tribe that feed on vege- 

 tables, is excellent. 



The snow goose is two feet eight inches in length, and five 

 feet in extent ; the bill is three inches in length, remarkably 

 thick at the base, and rising high in the forehead, but becomes 

 small and compressed at the extremity, where each mandible 

 is furnished with a whitish rounding nail ; the colour of the 

 bill is a purplish carmine; the edges of the two mandibles 

 separate from each other in a singular manner for their whole 

 length, and this gibbosity is occupied by dentated rows, resem- 

 bling teeth, these and the parts adjoining being of a blackish 

 colour ; the whole plumage is of a snowy whiteness, with the 

 exception, first, of the fore part of the head all round as far as 

 the eyes, which is of a yellowish rust colour, intermixed with 

 white ; and, second, the nine exterior quill-feathers, which 

 are black, shafted with white, and white at the root ; the coverts 

 of these last, and also the bastard wing, are sometimes of a 

 pale ash colour ; the legs and feet of the same purplish car- 

 mine as the bill ; iris, dark hazel ; the tail is rounded, and 

 consists of sixteen feathers ; that, and the wings, when shut, 

 nearly of a length. 



The bill of this bird is singularly curious ; the edges of the 

 upper and lower gibbosities have each twenty-three inden- 

 tations, or strong teeth, on each side ; the inside or concavity 

 of the upper mandible has also seven lateral rows of strong 

 projecting teeth ; and the tongue, which is horny at the ex- 

 tremity, is armed on each side with thirteen long and sharp 

 bony teeth, placed like those of a saw, with their points 

 directed backwards ; the tongue turned up, and viewed on its 

 lower side, looks very much like a human finger with its nail. 

 This conformation of the mandibles, exposing two rows of 

 strong teeth, has probably given rise to the epithet laughing, 

 bestowed on one of its varieties, though it might with as much 

 propriety have been named the grinning goose. 



