BIRDS—ANSERINAE—BERNICLA LEUCOPAREIA. 
765 
the bill is shorter than the head. At present I do not see the way clear to do else than con- 
siderjhem as one species, leaving it for further materials to decide the question. 
One specimen, 9554, from Simiahmoo hay, is the smallest of all, and would he taken for 
Bernicla hutcjiinsii, but for the possession of eighteen tail feathers. In the yellowish color of 
the under parts, the small bill and feet, and in its diminutive size, it approaches very closely to 
the Anser parvipes of Cassin from Vera Cruz, and may possibly represent the same form or 
variety of B. canadensis , or even with it constitute a distinct species, which, however, I am 
scarcely inclined at present to admit. 
List of specimens . 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
2128 
Carlisle, Penn-- 
S. F. Baird_ 
35. 00 
63. 50 
18. 00 
1192 
O 
Potomac river, D. C 
Dec., 1843-- 
_do._ 
37. 50 
63. 50 
18. 00 
99G1 
Major Emory_. _ 
J. H. Clark... 
9954 
Nov., 1853 
Lieut. Whipple.--- 
Kenn. & Moll. „ 
5471 
Yellowstone_ 
Lieut. Warren_ 
Dr. Havden_ 
10401 
8 
Salt Lake_-._ 
Capt. Stansbury_ 
9962 
Bodega, Cal ____ 
Lieut. Trowbridge - 
T. A. Szabo_ 
9554 
Simiahmoo hay__ 
October 9_ 
A. Campbell_ 
Dr. Kennerly. 
BERNICLA LEUCOPAREIA, Cassin. 
Anser leucopareius, Brandt, Bull Sc. Acad, St. Petersb. 1, 1836, 37, (Aleutians.)— Ib. Desc. et leones Anim. Ross. Aves, 
fasc. i, 1836, 13; plate ii. 
? Bernicla leucopareia, Cassin, Ill. I, 1855, 272; pi. xlv. 
Anser canadensis, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-As. II, 1811, 230. 
Sp. Ch.— Tail of eighteen feathers ; general appearance that of A . canadensis , hut much darker; head and neck black, bounded 
inferiorly by a well defined half ring of white on the throat; a white patch on each cheek, the two confluent below, triangular 
on the sides and truncate above; the posterior outline perpendicular, the anterior sloping backwards behind the eye, almost 
exactly as in A. canadensis ; there is a faint whitish patch on lower eyelids; upper parts dark wood brown, turning gradually 
nto black on the rump, tail and primary quills, each brown feather of the fore back and wings with a rather paler edge. The 
under parts are very dark brown, as dark as the back of A. canadensis, paler along the middle of the belly, the sides as dark as 
the back; each feather has an obsolete margin of lighter; the region round anus, is white, abruptly defined against the brown of 
the belly; the under and upper tail coverts are white; the bill is quite short, the culmen about half the tarsus, which is 
decidedly longer than the middle toe. Length about 35 inches; wing, 18; tarsus, 3.44; commissure, 1.90. 
Hah. —West coast of America. 
This species closely resembles the Canada goose, and, like it, has 18 tail feathers. It is a little 
smaller, however, and much darker, standing almost in the same relation to it that B. nigricans 
does to B. brenta. The belly is as dark as the back of A. canadensis , the color abruptly defined 
against the white about the anus. The white half ring round the neck is a conspicuous feature. 
The bill is proportionally shorter, the culmen being only half the length of tarsus, while the 
tarsus is longer, exceeding the middle toe, instead of being smaller by the length of the nail. 
This species agrees very well in its peculiar proportions of bill and tarsus with B. leucopareia 
of Brandt, and quite well in color, excepting that in the latter, as described by Brandt, the white 
