200 
THE BERKACLE GOOSE. 
very broad and abrupt, of the breast and belly broadly rounded. Wings 
long ; primaries strong, curved, the second longest, but the first and third 
almost as long, the rest rapidly graduated ; secondaries long, rather nar- 
row, rounded. Tail short, slightly rounded, of sixteen rounded feathers. 
Bill, feet, and claws black. Iris brown. Head and two upper thirds of 
the neck glossy black. A large subtriangular patch of white on each side 
of the head and neck. The general colour of the upper parts is brownish- 
grey, the feathers margined with paler ; of the lower parts pale greyish- 
brown, margined with yellowish-grey ; the abdomen and lower tail-coverts 
white ; the hind part of the back brownish-black. The primary quills and 
tail-feathers are deep brown. 
Length to end of tail 25 inches, extent of wings 50 ; wing from flexure 
16f ; tail 5f ; bill along the back 1£, along the edge of lower mandible 1A; 
tarsus 2i ; middle toe 2, its claw VV Weight 44 lbs. 
In the Fauna Boreali-Americana, the tail-feathers are stated to be four- 
teen. In my specimen they are sixteen, and it is probable that the full 
number is eighteen, as the two middle ones seem to be wanting. 
THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 
Anser leucopsis, Bechst. 
PLATE CCCLXXVIII.— Male and Female. 
Several old gunners on the coast of Massachusetts and Maine, who were 
Englishmen by birth, assured me that they had killed B mnacles there, and 
that these birds brought a higher price in the markets than the Common 
Brent Geese. The Prince of Musignano states in his Synopsis that they are 
very rare and accidental in the United States, and Mr. Nuttall says that 
they are “ mere stragglers” there. For my part, I acknowledge that I never 
met with one of them, either along the coast or in the interior, although I 
have seen beautiful mounted specimens in various parts. Being neither 
anxious to add to our Fauna, nor willing unnecessarily to detract from it, 1 
have figured a pair of these birds, with the hope that ere long, the assertions 
of the gunners, and those of the authors above mentioned, may be abundantly 
