Interior of British North America . 143 
plumage has a large admixture of white ; but what establishes it 
as an accidental variety is, that the number of white quill- 
feathers is unequal in the two wings, and there are five white 
tail-feathers on one side, and eight on the other. 
Bernicla hutchinsii. 
This, I suppose, we must allow as a species, as Prof. Baird 
places a specimen from Bed Biver Settlement under the name, 
while Mr. Murray records it from Hudson's Bay, and Mr. Boss 
from the Mackenzie, where he found it breeding. Mr. Barnston 
remarks on their late arrival in spring (* Ibis/ vol. ii. p. 255), 
and mentions that they go north in distinct flocks. This seems 
to agree with my informant, mentioned in the foregoing para¬ 
graph, who may have mistaken the species. I measured an indi¬ 
vidual on the Lower Saskatchawan in September, which, although 
I was assured by an Indian it was the young of B. canadensis , I 
took.to be B. hutchinsii : it was 2 7\ in. in total length ; 16J in. 
in the wing; bill along the ridge 1-Jin.; upper tail-coverts from 
the end of the tail, 2J in.; nail of the upper mandible dark 
brown, lower horn-colour; bill, legs, and feet black, when 
fresh, but became lighter some time after death. Also another 
at Port Carlton, late in May, measured 27J in. and 14J in., and 
bill 1J in.: it was a female; but none of the ova showed any ap¬ 
pearance of developing. 
I cannot include Mr. Cassin's Pacific bird B. leucopareia in 
this paper, which treats only of such as are found on the eastern 
side of the Bocky Mountains. 
Bernicla barnstonii ? (Boss). 
“ This bird was shot at Port Simpson (on the Mackenzie). 
It is of very large size, with the breast of a bright fawn- 
colour. The delta of feathers running up into the lower man¬ 
dible is white, instead of black, as in B. canadensis . The tail is 
of sixteen feathers. The Indians consider it a distinct species 
from the Canada Goose. It seldom flies in parties of more than 
five or six." (Bernard Boss, ‘ Nat. Hist. Bev.' July 1862, 
p. 28). It is with much gratification that I am able to tran¬ 
scribe the above notice of this new and large species of Goose; 
for, during the latter part of my stay in the northern interior of 
