ANSERINE — THE GEESE — CHEN. 
437 
times reaches to the crown. The bright orange-rufous tinge to the anterior portion of the head, 
being an artificial stain, is frequently entirely absent. The color of the abdomen also varies from 
nearly pure white to a tint hardly paler than the breast ; the rump is also sometimes, but rarely, 
entirely white, while occasionally white feathers are irregularly interspersed among the dark 
feathers of the body. 
In both the adult and young stages of this Goose the plumage is so very distinct from that of 
G. hyperboreus that there is no occasion for confounding the two when the points of distinction are 
understood. We are unable, however, to 
find the slightest difference in the details 
of form or in proportions — a fact which 
suggests the mere possibility of their be- 
ing white and colored phases of the same 
species, as in some Herons ; but we do 
not consider this as at all probable, al- 
though in view of their similarity of form 
and size, and that the chief variations 
are a tendency toward partial albinism , 1 
the possibility of such a relationship 
should be borne in mind. 
This form, once supposed to be 
the young of the Snow Goose, is 
now regarded as an entirely good 
and distinct species. Mr. G. Barns- 
ton, in his valuable paper on the 
Geese of Hudson’s Bay, referring 
to the prevalent supposition that 
this species and the A. hyperboreus 
are mere varieties, because of the 
friendly intercourse that exists be- 
tween them, is positive that this 
belief is not well founded. The 
young of the hyperboreus arrive 
from the north with their parents 
without any intermixture of other 
Geese in their flocks. They have 
the same white garb as the old birds, 
but with their heads as if soiled 
with iron-rust, and with a bill, ten- 
der, soft, and compressible. On the other hand, the ccerulescens comes down upon 
the eastern coast also in perfectly distinct flocks, the young birds having a more 
1 A specimen figured in the “ Transactions ” of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Vol. I. 1869, pi. 18, 
has the whole under parts, posterior to the jugulum, pure white. We have also seen examples in which 
not only the abdomen, but also the rump, was white; while, as. noted above, white feathers are sometimes 
interspersed irregularly in the dark plumage of the body. There is also something very “ unsatisfactory ” 
or suspicious in the irregular, variable, and undecided way in which the white of the neck joins upon the 
dark color below it. 
Mr. E. W. Nelson, of Chicago, who has enjoyed the advantage of inspecting very numerous specimens 
in the markets of that great game centre, writes as follows (Bull. “Nutt. Orn. Club,” VIII. 1876, p. 137) 
with regard to the changes of plumage in this species : — 
“The adults of this species invariably possess the white head and upper part of the neck, which in 
the younger specimens is more or less variegated with dark feathers. These disappear as the bird becomes 
older and in many the head is a pure snowy white, in sharp contrast to the dark plumage of the rest of 
