In North America there is a White-fronted or Laughing
Goose, described and figured by Edwards, from a
specimen brought from Hudson’s Bay; and to this specific
rank has been accorded under the name of A. gambeli. So
far as the Editor can judge from the series available, the
latter is a considerably larger bird, with a great deal more
black on the breast, abdomen, and flanks, and much darker
under wing-coverts. At present evidence is wanting as to
which of the two forms occurs in Greenland; possibly the
Old World representative visits the east side, while the
American bird may he confined to the west coast of that
great peninsula. The range of A. gambeli extends across
the continent to the Pacific coast, on which it is far more
abundant than on the Atlantic, and its southward migrations
reach to Mexico, Cuba, and probably to other islands of the
Antilles.
In the adult White-fronted Goose the bill is orange-
yellow, the nail white ; at the base of the upper mandible,
and on the forehead, the feathers are white; irides dark
brown; head, neck, back, rump, and wings hrownisli-ash
colour; upper wing-coverts greyisli-brown, margined with
dull white; wing-primaries and secondaries bluish-black;
upper tail-coverts white; tail-feathers dark grey tipped with
white; breast and belly pale brownish-white, with patches
and broad bars of black; sides and flanks asli-hrown, edged
with dull white; vent and under tail-coverts white; legs,
toes, and membranes orange; claws whitish horn-colour.
The average length of an adult is twenty-seven inches;
from the carpal joint to the end of the wing sixteen inches.
The plumage of young birds of the year is more uniform
in colour and rather darker, the feathers at the base of the
upper mandible are of a deeper brown than those of the
other parts of the head; the nail and point of the beak light
brown. The pale brown feathers on the breast are uniform
in colour, without any dark patches or bars.
AN SERES. ■ ANATTDjR.
A n se r seg e t um (Gmelin*).
THE BEAN GOOSE.
Anser segetum.
The B ea n G oose, and the Pink-footed Goose next to be considered,
may readily be distinguished from the two preceding
species by the black “ nail ” at the tip of the bill, whereas it
is white in the Grey Lag and the White-fronted species.
Forty years ago, when the first Edition of this work was
published, very confused notions were entertained respecting
the distribution and comparative abundance of the four species
of ‘ Grey ’ Geese; and the Bean Goose was said to breed in
Westmoreland, the Hebrides, and upon several of the Suther-
knidshire lakes. No Wild Goose nests at the present day in
* Awas segetum, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 512 (1788).