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THE SNOW. GOOSE. 
of the fore part of the head all round as far as the eyes, 
which is of a yellowish rust-colour, intermixed with white ; 
and, second, the nine exterior quill-feathers, which are black, 
shafted with white, and white at the root; the covers of 
these last, and also the bastard wing, are sometimes of a 
pale ash-colour; the legs and feet, of the same purplish 
carmine as the bill ; iris, dark hazel ; the tail is rounded 
and consists of sixteen feathers; that, and the wings, when 
shut, nearly of a length. 
The bill of this bird is singularly curious ; the edges of 
the upper and lower gibbosities have each twenty-three 
indentations, or strong teeth, on each side; the inside, or 
concavity of the upper mandible, has also seven lateral rows 
of strong, projecting teeth ; and the tongue, which is horny 
at the extremity, is armed on each side with thirteen long 
and sharp, bony teeth, placed like those of a saw, with their 
points directed backwards; the tongue turned up, and viewed 
on its lower side, looks very much like a human finger with 
its nail. This conformation of the mandibles, exposing two 
rows of strong teeth, has, probably, given rise to the epithet 
Laughing, bestowed on one of its varieties, though it might, 
with as much propriety, have been named the Grinning 
Goose. 
The specimen from which the above description was 
taken, was shot on the Delaware, below Philadelphia, on the 
15th of February, and on dissection proved to be a male ; 
the windpipe had no labyrinth, but, for an inch or two 
