79 
SNOW GOOSE. 
JIJVAS HYPERBOREJl. 
[Plate LXVIIL— Fig. 5, Male.'] 
Gmel. Syst. I, />. 504, jVb. 54. — Ind. Orn. p. 837, Ab. 14. Gen. Ill, />. 445. — Temm. 
Man. d'Orn. p. 816. — UOye de Briss. VI, p. 288, 10. — White Brant^ Lawson’s 
Carolina^ p. 157. — Arct. Zool. No. ^11. — Phil, Trans. 62, p. 413. — Cuv. R>g. An, lyp. 
531. — Ve ALE^s Museumj No. 2635. 
THIS bird is particularly deserving of the further investiga- 
tion of naturalists ; for, if I do not greatly mistake, English wri- 
ters have, from the various appearances which this species as- 
sumes in its progress to perfect plumage, formed no less than 
four different kinds, which they describe as so many distinct spe- 
cies, viz. the Snow Goose, the While-fronted or Laughing Goose, 
the Bean Goose, and the Blue-winged Goose; all of which, I have 
little doubt, will hereafter be found to be nothing more than per- 
fect and imperfect individuals, male and female, of the Snow 
Goose, now before us.* 
This species, called on the seacoast the Red Goose, arrives 
in the river Delaware, from the north, early in November, some- 
times in considerable flocks, and is extremely noisy, their notes 
being shriller and more squeaking than those of the Canada, or 
Common Wild Goose. On their first arrival they make but a 
short stay, proceeding, as the depth of winter approaches, farther 
to the south ; but from the middle of February until the breaking 
up of the ice in March, they are frequently numerous along both 
shores of the Delaware, about and below Reedy Island, particu- 
* This conjecture of our author is partly erroneous. The Snow Goose and the Blue-winged 
Goose are synonymous ; but the other two named are distinct species, the characters of which 
are well defined by late ornithologists. 
