ANATID^ — AN SERIN Jt: : GEESE. 685 
with white ; shafts of quills white. Young : Darker, browner ; the gray and asliy colors rather 
brown, the base of the tail not pure white, no white on forehead, which is darker than rest 
of head, no black on under parts, the bill obscured, the nail blackish, the feet pale. Length 
about 27.00 inches; extent 60.00; wing 10.10-17.00; tail 5.50; tarsus 2.75; middle toe 
and claw rather more ; bill up to 2.00. N. Am. at large, breeding in the far north, wintering 
in the U. S., in greater numbers on the Pacific side than in the interior or along the Atlantic. 
Eggs 6-7, 2.90 to 3.30 long by 2.10 broad, elliptical, smooth dull yellowish with an olive 
shade, in places discolored with a darker tint. 
280. CHEN. (Gr. xh^j chen, a goose.) Snow Geese. Bill about as long as head, very stout 
and high at base, where higher than broad, the under mandible very deep. Tomial edges 
of much bevelled oflf, and receding from each other, leaving an elliptical space, in which the 
large prominent teeth are fully exposed. Nostrils in basal half of bill. Feet as in Anser, but 
tarsus if anything longer than middle toe and claw. Color white, at least on head. Bill and 
feet reddish. 
Analysis of Species. 
Not white. Nearly the size of the next ccerulescens 694 
Pure white, with black wing-tips; head rusty or not. 
Large: length about 30.00 ; wing 17.00 or more. Bill smooth hyperboreus 695 
Small : length about 25.00 ; wing 16.00 or less. Bill smooth cUbatus 696 
Very small: under 24.00; wing 15.00 or less. Bill studded with papillae rossi 697 
694. C. coerules'cens. (Lat. coerulescens, bluish.) Blue Snow Goose. Bill and feet flesh-pink, 
former with the recess between the mandibles black, the nails whitish ; iris dark brown ; 
claws dusky. Head and neck above white, the neck below, passing on to the back and 
breast, dusky-gray, then fading into whitish on the under parts, changing on the wings into 
fine bluish-gray, or silvery-ash ; rump and upper tail-coverts whitish ; quills and tail-feathers 
dusky, edged with whitish, the primaries black. Size of the snow goose or rather less, and 
closely resembling the 
young of that species. 
Length about 25.00; 
wing 16.00 ; bill 2.25 ; 
tarsus 3.00. N. Am. 
at large, not very com- 
mon or well-known. 
695. C. hyperbo'reus. (Lat. 
hyperhoreus, beyond 
the north wind.) Snow 
Goose. White 
Brant. Bill car- 
mine-red or pale pur- 
plish with a salmon 
tinge, the nails white, 
the recess between the 
mandibles black. Eyes 
dark brown. Feet dull 
lake-red, the claws 
blackish. Adult plu- 
mage pure white, the Fig. 474. —Emperor Goose. (From Dall.) 
head usually washed with rusty-brown, like a swan's, the ends of the primaries blackening. 
Young resembling the last, but the head not white while other parts are colored. Large : 
length 27.00-31.00 ; extent 57.00-62.00 ; wing 17.00-19.00; tail 6.50; bill 2.35-2.60 ; tarsus 
3.00-3.50; middle toe and claw the same. Weight 5 or 6 lbs. The dimensions grade down 
