HUTCHINS GOOSE. 
291 
On Captain Parry’s second voyage several flocks of Geese 
were seen on Melville Peninsula which were thought to be the 
Barnacle, but which the Esquimaux said were the males of the 
Brant that during the breeding-season separated themselves 
from the females. A number of specimens were obtained, all 
of which proved to be males, and Dr. Richardson described 
the species as a variety of the Brant ; but from information 
afterwards obtained, he considered these specimens as belong 
ing to a different species, hitherto confounded with the A. 
canadensis. In Hudson Bay these birds are well known by 
the Cree name of Apisiiskeesh, and are generally thought by 
the residents to be merely a small kind of the Canada Goose, 
as they have the white, kidney-shaped patch on the tnroat, 
which is deemed peculiar to that species. Their habits, how- 
ever, are dissimilar, the Canada Geese frequenting the fresh- 
water lakes and rivers of the interior, and feeding chiefly on 
herbage ; while the present species are always found on the 
sea-coast, feeding on marine plants, and the mollusca which 
adhere to them, whence their flesh acquires a strong fishy 
taste. 
In form, size, and general colors of the plumage, the new 
species more nearly resembles the Brairt than the Canaaa 
Goose. It differs, however, from the former in having the white, 
reniform patch on the throat and cheeks, in wanting the spotted 
white mark on the side of the neck, in the black color termi- 
nating 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. 
This species of Barnacle, named in honor of Mr. Hutchins, — 
from whom Pennant and Latham derived most of their in- 
formation respecting the birds of Hudson Bay, — breeds in 
considerable numbers on the shores and islands of the Arctic 
Sea, being seldom seen in the interior, and keep near the sea- 
coast in their migrations. They feed on marine plants and 
mollusca, as well as on grass and berries, in common with the 
A. bernicla. 
