470 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



lactuca, and other marine plants thrown up by the tide, by which its flesh 

 acquires a strong- taste. It leaves its breeding- quarters in September, and 

 lingers on the shores of New Jersey until December, when it goes further to 

 the southward. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a, female killed 21st June, on Melville Peninsula. 



Colour. — Head, neck, shoulders, and swell of the breast, greyish-black ; quills, ter- 

 tiaries, rump, and tail, greenish-black ; back, scapulars, and outer and inner wing coverts, 

 clove-brown, margined with yellowish- grey. A mottled spot on the side of the neck, tail 

 coverts above and below, sides of the rump, and vent, white. Belly yellowish-grey. Flanks 

 transversely barred with bluish-grey and white. Bill undfeet black. 



Form. — Bill small, shorter than the head. Tail coverts as long as the tail, which is much 

 rounded. 



Dimensions 

 Of the female. 



Length, total 

 ,, of tail 

 „ of wing 

 ,, of bill to front 



Inch. 



24 



. 4 



. 13 



. 1 



Lin. 

 6 

 6 

 3 

 31 



Length 



55 

 ,5 



55 



of bill to rictus . 

 from tip to nostrils 

 of tarsus 

 of middle toe . 



Inch. 



1 



. 



2 



. 1 



Lin. 



H 



9 



2 

 10 



Length 



95 

 55 

 55 



of outer toe . 

 of outer nail 

 of hind toe 

 of hind nail 



Inch. Lin. 

 . 1 9 



. o 34 



• 41 

 . 4 



„ of bill to frontal 



angle 1 



C 



95 



of middle nail 



. 



4i 







— R. 



[229.] 5. Anser Hutchinsii. (Richards.) Hutchins's Barnacle Goose. 



Sub-family, Anserinsa, Swains. Genus, Anser, Auct. 

 Canada Goose. Hearne, Journ., p. 439. 



Anas bernicla, /3. Richards. Append. Parrifs Second Voy., p. 308. 

 Apisteeskeesh. Cree Indians. 



Ch. Sp. Anser Hutchinsii rostro nigro sub-sesquiunciali, fascia gulari reniformi alba, dimidio colli nigro, pectore 



alio. 

 Sp. Ch. Hutchins's Goose, with a black bill, less than an inch and a half in length ; a white kidney-shaped patch 



on the throat ; upper half of the neck black ; the breast white. 



On Captain Parry's second voyag-e, several flocks of Geese were seen on 

 Melville Peninsula, which were thought by the officers of the Expedition to be 

 the Anser leucopsis or Barnacle, but which the Esquimaux said were the males 

 of the Anser bernicla, that, during- the breeding-season, separate themselves 

 from the females. A number of specimens were secured, all of which proved 

 to be males, and, in the Appendix above quoted, I described them merely as a 

 variety of the Brent ; but I have since obtained information, which leads me 

 to believe that they actually belong to a distinct species, hitherto confounded 

 with the A. Canadensis. They are well known in Hudson's Bay by the Cree 

 name of Apistiskeesh, and are generally thought by the residents to be merely 



