with lighter-coloured margins ; vent and under tail-coverts
white; legs, toes, membranes, and claws black, with an
olive-green tinge upon the tarsal joint and the upper surface
of the toes. A description of a curious variety of this
species, with reddish legs, was furnished to Mr. H. Stevenson
by Mr. F. Norgate (Zool. 1882, p. 366).
The whole length twenty-one inches. From the carpal
joint to the end of the wing thirteen inches ; the first and
second quill-feathers about equal, and the longest in the
wing. Females are a little smaller than males.
Young birds of the year have little or no white patch on
the sides of the neck; head and neck dusky lead-grey; the
feathers of the body edged with brown; belly and flanks
grey, of varying shades.
The downy nestling was first figured and described by
Yon Middendorff. One obtained by Capt. A. H. Markham,
R.N., in Novaya Zemlya, in July 1876, is greyish-white on
the underparts, brownish-grey above, with lores and crown
of a darker tint.
There does not appear to be any authentic record of the
breeding of the Brent Goose in captivity, although this
species, as well as the Bernacle, are mentioned by Willughby
as inmates of St. James’s Park in the time of Charles II.
AN SERES. ANA TIDÆ.
B e r n ic l a c a n a d en s is (Linnaeus*).
THE CANADA GOOSE.
Anser Canadensis.
T h e C anada G oose is a species which has been well known
in a state of domestication since the time of Willughby, who
describes and figures a bird living in St. James sPaik. Yet,
in the opinion of the Author, so frequently are specimens of
the Canada Goose shot which do not exhibit either in then-
actions or plumage any signs of having escaped from confinement,
and so often are flocks seen in different parts of the
country, apparently in a naturally wild state, some pairs of
which in the season produce and rear their young in places
* Anas canadensis, Linnams, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 198 (W66).