ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. 361 



just ready for laying, pure chalk white, 3£ in. 

 by 2\ in. 



The little white-fronted goose (A. minutus, 

 Nauni. ; "fell gas, 5 ' Sw. ; "kasak," Lap.)— This 

 little goose, which appears to be a distinct species 

 from the British white-fronted goose (A. albifrons, 

 Bechst.), which latter bird, however, Nilsson in- 

 cludes in the Swedish fauna, giving it the Lap 

 name of "kasak," and, moreover, telling us that 

 it is the common fell goose of Sweden. Here he 

 certainly is wrong, for I never could meet with the 

 common white-fronted goose in Sweden; and I 

 believe it is very rare even up at the North Cape. 

 The Laps all have a name for the minutus but not 

 for albifrons. I believe there has been some con- 

 fusion regarding the Latin synonyms of these two 

 birds, and I should certainly always recommend 

 the common white-fronted goose to be called the 

 Anser albifrons (Bechst.), and the lesser white- 

 fronted goose the Anser minutus (Naum.). It is 

 easily distinguished from the common white- 

 fronted goose by its smaller size, measuring 

 scarcely 22 in. ; by the much smaller beak, and 

 especially that the lamellae in the beak, which, in 

 A. albifrons are plainly to be seen along the whole 

 mandible, in the A. minutus are not visible. The 

 only species which I met with at Quickiock were 

 these small geese (A. minutus, Naum.), and I 



