ANATID<E. 471 



a small kind of the Canada Goose, as they have the white kidney-shaped patch 

 on the throat, which is deemed peculiar to that species*. Their habits, however, 

 are dissimilar ; the Canada Geese frequenting the fresh-water lakes and rivers 

 of the interior, and feeding chiefly on herbage ; while the Apistiskeesh are always 

 found on the sea coast, feeding on the marine plants and the molluscce which 

 adhere to them, whence their flesh derives a strong fishy taste. In form, size, 

 and general colours of the plumage, the new species more nearly resembles the 

 Brent, than the Canada Goose. It differs, however, from the former in having 

 the white kidney-shaped patch on the throat and cheeks, in wanting the spotted 

 white mark on the side of the neck, in the black colour terminating four inches 

 higher]", instead of including the swell of the upper parts of the back and breast, 

 and in the white of the vent being more extended : it is totally unlike A. leucopsis 

 in plumage, and has a larger bill. We have designated the Apistiskeesh by the 

 name of Hutehinsii, in honour of a gentleman from whom Pennant and Latham 

 derived most of their information respecting the Hudson's Bay birds. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a male, killed, June 19, 1822, on Melville Peninsula, and now in the Edinburgh Museum. 



Colour. — Head, neck, rump, and tail pitch-black ; back and both surfaces of the wings 

 clove-brown, the edges of the feathers yellowish-grey and worn. A speck before the eye, the 

 under eyelid a kidney-shaped patch on the throat similar to that of A. Canadensis, terminating 

 acutely on each side of the hind head, a band passing over the upper tail coverts and forwards 

 by the sides of the rump, breast, vent, and under tail coverts, all white ; abdomen yellowish-grey, 

 edged with white ; flanks transversely barred with bluish-grey and white. Bill and feet black. 



Form. — Bill higher than wide at the front, shaped much like that of A. bernicla, but wider, 

 the commissure straighter, and the teeth of the upper mandible not appearing externally. 

 Feathers of the front joining the bill in a semicircular line. Wings : first and third quills 

 nearly equal to the second, which is the longest ; the spur at the angle of the wing nearly as 

 much developed as in A. bernicla, but less than in A. Canadensis and A. leucopsis. Tail, of 

 fourteen feathers, rounded laterally ; the middle pair shorter than the adjoining ones and 

 scarcely exceeding the outer ones. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male. 



Inch. 

 Length of bill to front . ] 

 ,, of bill to frontal angle 1 

 ,, of bill to rictus . 1 

 ,, of tarsus . . 2 



,, of middle toe . 1 



— R. 



* Some mistake occurs in Forster's account of the Canada Goose {Phil. Trans., Ixii.) ; the habits of A. Hutehinsii 

 (Small Grey Goose of Graham) being ascribed to the A. Canadensis ; while the Large Grey Goose, mentioned in the 

 same passage, is undoubtedly the Canada Goose, which we know to be the only species that breeds abundantly about 

 Severn River. — R. 



f The black extends six inches from the occiput down the neck, — R. 





Inch. 



Lin, 



Length, total 



25 







„ of tail 



. 5 



6 



„ of wing 



14 







„ of neck 



5 



6 



,, of body . 



12 







Lin. 







Inch. 



Lin. 



84- 



Length 



of middle nail 







4 



9 



59 



of outer toe 



1 



9 



5 



T) 



of outer nail 







4i 



6 



5? 



of hind toe 



. 



4* 



11 



5? 



of hind nail . 



. 



4 



