450 
LAMELL IROST RAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
admixture of a few pale cinereous feathers. In No. 4517, Washington, D. C., the whitish gray of 
the lower parts is strongly tinged with ochraceous-rufous — without doubt merely an accidental 
stain from ferruginous clay. There is also a slight range of variation in the shade of the brownish 
tints of the body, some specimens inclining to cinereous and others approaching dark umber. The 
smallest specimen (see measurements above) is No. 10463, Frontera, Texas ; the largest is No. 
16788, Washington, D. C. In No. 20138, Fort Resolution, the white of the forehead is more 
extended than in any others, reaching as far as the mid- 
dle of the eye, and sending back a stripe over the eye to 
its posterior angle, and another on each side the throat. 
The variations of plumage in tins species are thus 
discussed by Mr. E. W. Nelson, in the “Bulletin of the 
Essex Institute,” Yol. VIII. (1876), pp. 136, 137 : — 
“ The individual variation in this species is very 
great. A large majority have the ordinary white frontal 
band and the under parts plentifully mottled with black. 
In others the black gradually decreases, until some speci- 
mens do not show the least trace of dark on the abdo- 
men ; in such instances the frontal white band is usually 
present. The young exhibit a dark brown frontal band 
in place of white, but with more or less dark spots on 
the abdomen. In very high plumage the abdomen be- 
comes almost entirely black, only a few rusty-colored 
feathers being interspersed through the black. The 
white nail on the bill is generally crossed by one or 
more longitudinal stripes of dark horn-color. In spring, 
as the breeding-season approaches, the bill becomes a 
clear waxy yellow. There is also much variation in 
size among adults of this species. I have examined a 
number of specimens, which by correct comparison were 
at least one fourth smaller than the average.” 
A hybrid between Anser Gamheli and Bernicla occidentalis, from San Francisco (No. 41704, 
Oct. 25, 1862 ; F. Gruber), shows an equal combination of the characters of the two species. The 
head has the white front of A. Gamheli and the white cheek-patch of B. canadensis ; the black of 
the neck lightens gradually into the grayish brown of the jugulum ; the greater coverts are silvery - 
slate, as in A. Gamheli, and the tail is wholly black, as in B canadensis ; while the upper tail-coverts 
are spotted white and black. The anal region and crissum are white, but the longer feathers of 
the latter are clouded with black. The bill and feet are pale-colored (reddish in life ?), as in 
A. Gamheli. 
It is very doubtful whether the White-fronted Goose of Greenland belongs to 
the European species or to the larger American form. Professor Newton appears 
rather inclined to assign it to the latter ; but as the true albifrons is a regular 
visitant to Iceland, the examples taken on the east coast of Greenland may perhaps 
belong to the Old World form ; but it does not follow that those of the west coast 
are of the same kind. The White-fronted Goose is pretty generally distributed over 
the entire Palaearctic Region, breeding near the coast-line of the Arctic Ocean, in 
both Europe and Asia, and also on the larger rivers, bays, and inlets. In its migra- 
tions it is variously and unequally distributed, but is more abundant in Eastern 
Europe than in West, extending its migrations into Central Africa almost as far as 
the Equator. It is usually found in Great Britain and Ireland, and is a tolerably 
regular visitant, although more common in the severest winters. 
This bird is abundant in Northeastern Africa during the cold season, and at that 
time is the most common Goose in Egypt, where it may be met with in flocks. It 
leaves that region in March. It is also a winter visitant to India, and is also quite 
A. albifrons erythropus. 
