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Subfamily Anserince

Geese.

Geese are vegetarians. When on the water, they feed largely by tipping, as with head and neck immersed and tail pointing skyward they search for the roots or seeds of aquatic plants. They are far more terrestrial than Ducks, and visit the land to nip the herbage, GEESE. young corn, or cereals. When wounded, they dive readily and, with their body just below the surface of the water and only the bill exposed, head for the shore, where they attempt to hide in the vegetation. In migrating, the flock is formed in a V-shaped wedge, the lead, it is said, being taken by an old gander.

KEY TO THE SPECIES.

I. Whole head or forehead white.

A. Bill yellowish. a. Forehead and feathers at the base of bill white. 171a. Aм. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (Ad.). b. Head and neck white or grayish, sometimes tinged with rusty. 61. Primaries black, rest of plumage white. 169. LESSER SNOW GOOSE. 169a. GREATER SNOW GOOSE. 62. Back grayish brown, rump and belly whitish, wing-coverts and tertials widely margined with white. 169. LESSER SNOW GOOSE (Im.). 169a. GREATER SNOW GOOSE (Im.). bs. Back grayish brown, rump, belly, and wing-coverts gray, the latter not conspicuously margined with white. 169.1. BLUE GOOSE (Ad.).

B. Bill black, throat and sides of the head white, lores black. 175. BARNACLE GOOSE.

A. Nail of bill black, rump fuscous.

II. Head and neck brown, bill yellow or yellowish. 171a. Aм. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (Im.). 169.1. BLUE GOOSE (Im.).

B. Nail of bill yellow, rump gray.

III. Head black or brownish black, bill black.

A. Throat white 172. CANADA GOOSE. 172a. HUTCHINS'S GOOSE.

B. Throat black or brownish black, neck speckled with white. a. Belly white b. Belly brownish gray 173. BRANT. 174. BLACK BRANT. 169. Chen hyperborea (Pall.). LESSER SNOW GOOSE. Ad.-Entire plumage, except the primaries with their coverts, white; primaries black, their bases and coverts ashy. Im. - "Head, neck, and upper parts pale grayish, the feathers of the latter with whitish edges and (especially wing-coverts and tertials) striped medially with darker; rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, and lower parts plain white. L., 23-00-28-00; W., 14.50-17.00; B., 1.95-2.30; Tar., 2.80-3.25" (Ridgw.).

Range.-Western North America, breeding in Alaska and migrating southward to the Gulf; rarely found east of the Mississippi. Eggs, uniform dirty, chalky white, 3.40 x 2.20 (B., B., and R.). 169a. C. h. nivalis (Forst.). GREATER SNOW GOOSE. - Resembles the preceding in color, but is larger. L., 30-00-38-00; W., 17-35-17-50; B., 2-55- 270; Tar., 3-15-3.50 (Ridgw.).