DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS: WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 107 
State Records. —Geese so small that they were called Brant were seen by Col. 
Abert October 15, 1846, near Albuquerque and again October 28, near Isleta; these 
were probably the Hutchins Goose and were so called by Kennerly who found them 
near the latter place in November, 1853. But as all of Kennerly’s specimens 
proved to be the common Canada Goose, the smaller subspecies still lacks a certain 
record for New Mexico. The Hutchins Goose is a rare bird in the southern Rocky 
Mountains, and as it does not regularly go into Mexico outside of Lower California, 
it would at the most occur in New Mexico as a rare or casual migrant on the way to 
its winter home in eastern Texas. A flock was reported as seen at Albuquerque, 
October 7, 1900 (?) (Birtwell), but as no specimen was secured and sight identification 
in this case is very uncertain, the species can not yet be given a place in the New 
Mexico bird list.—W. W. Cooke. 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 130, 223-227, 
1925.1 
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE: Anser albifrons gambeli (Hartlaub) 
Description. — Length: About 29 inches. Adults: Forehead white, head, neck, and 
body mainly dark brownish gray, upper tail coverts mainly white; breast and belly dark 
gray, broadly banded with black; bill vary¬ 
ing from flesh color or pink to orange, 
nail whitish, legs and feet yellow or orange. 
Young in juvenal and first winter plumage: 
Similar, but without white front and black 
breast patches; breast often mottled. 
Range. —Nearly circumpolar. Breeds 
on the barren grounds and Arctic coasts 
of North America from northeastern Si¬ 
beria east to northeastern Mackenzie and 
south to lower Yukon Valley; winters in 
Japan and in North America, from British 
Columbia to Mexico and rarely central 
and southeastern United States. 
State Records.—A White-fronted Goose collected by Henry at Fort Thorn, 
in the fall of 1854 was described as a new species by Baird under the name frontalis. 
Later the specimen was ascertained to be the young-of-the-year of what now appears 
to be the ordinary White-fronted Goose. The species is a rare migrant in the 
Rocky Mountain region and this specimen is the only one recorded for New Mexico. 
The White-fronted Goose was reported to George Willett by several hunters as 
occurring in the vicinity of Carlsbad in January, 1915, and he writes that he is per¬ 
sonally satisfied of the authenticity of the record.—W. W. Cooke. 
From Handbook of Western Birds 
Fig. 8. White-fronted Goose 
SNOW GOOSE: Chen hyperb6reus hyperboreus (Pallas) 
Description. — Length: About 23-28 inches, wing 14.5-17, bill 1.9-2.3, tarsus 
2.8-3.2. Feathers of neck forming grooves. Adxdts: Pure white, except wing 
which has black tip and gray patch; white of foreparts sometimes washed or 
stained with rusty orange; iris brown, bill, legs and feet pinkish. Young in juvenal 
plumage: Head, neck, and back, pale gray, feathers edged with brown; wing 
quills black, closed wing brown with white edgings; rump, upper tail coverts, tail, 
and underparts white; head and underparts usually tinged with yellowish brown. 
Range.— North America and northeastern Asia. Breeds in arctic America 
/rom northern Alaska and mouth of Mackenzie eastward to Melville Island (prob- 
