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H U T C H I N S ' S G O O S E.
ANSER HUTCHINSII, RICHARDSON.
PLATE CCLXXVII. ADULT.
IN the first article in this volume, that of the Canada Goose, in which I
have described the habits of that bird at considerable length, I had occasion
to allude to a, small species called by the gunners of Maine the Winter
or Flight Goose, which they described to me as resembling the large and
common kind in almost every particular except its size. Although it was
not my good fortune while there to meet with the bird spoken of by men
who were well acquainted with it, I have no doubt that it is the very species
which has been named in honour of Mr HUTCHINS, and that its periodical
appearance along our eastern coast will ere long be fully established. This
is the more to be expected as Dr RICHARDSON informs us that it is abundant
about Hudson's Bay, where it was long mistaken for the Brent, or an
emaciated Canada Goose. In the mean time, having been presented with
a specimen of the bird in question by my highly esteemed and gallant
friend Captain JAMES CLARK Ross, I have embraced the opportunity thus
offered, of laying before you a representation, the first I believe that has
yet appeared, of HUTCHINS'S Goose.
For fifteen months, rendered trebly long and wearisome by heavy and
difficult marches, under the most distressing feelings, that most amiable
and accomplished traveller, carried with him many specimens of rare birds,
with the view of contributing to the advancement of our knowledge.
Would, Reader, that you could sympathize with me in the feelings of
pride and pleasure with which I call him friend. May his name be as
extensively known as his worth deserves!
Some weeks after my drawing was finished, and when I had arrived
in Edinburgh, I had the gratification of receiving a long and most interesting
letter from him, of which I present you with an extract. " I
have very great pleasure in having it now in my power to offer to your
acceptance the specimen of this interesting species from which your drawing
was taken. It was the child of my solicitude, and my constant companion
during a long and tedious journey, after the abandonment of
our ship, until our being received on board the Isabella, an interval of
HUTCHINS'S GOOSE. 527
fifteen months; and this will account in a great measure for the miserable
plight in which the specimen first came into your hands. I will dispose
of it according to your wishes, and am most happy to place it in the
hands of one who knows so well how to appreciate the interesting associations
connected with it.
" These birds arrived in flocks about the middle of June, in the neighbourhood
of Felix Harbour, and soon dispersed in pairs to their breeding
place. At Igloolik, the only place where we had before met with them,
their nests were found in the marshes near the sea; but on this occasion
several pairs constructed their nests on a ledge of rock near the foot of a
high precipice; immediately above them the Dovekies, Loons, several
species of Gulls, and near its summit, the Jer-Falcon and Raven, built
their nests.
" From three to four eggs were found in each nest, of a pure white, and
of an oval form, measuring 3.1 inches by 2.1, and weighing from 1800 to
2000 grains.
" The female bird is smaller than the male. To the measurements given
by Dr RICHARDSON, which are very accurate, we may add that its extent
of wings is fifty inches, and that it averages about four pounds and a half
of weight. Its flesh is of a most exquisite flavour.11
ANSER HUTCHINSII, HUTCHINS'S BARNACLE GOOSE, Swains, and Richards. Fauna
Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 470.
Adult. Plate CCLXXVII.
Bill shorter than the head, higher than broad at the base, somewhat
conical, depressed towards the end, rounded at the tip. Upper mandible
with the dorsal line sloping, the ridge slightly flattened at the base, convex
in the rest of its extent, the sides sloping, the edges soft, the oblique
internal lamellae about thirty ; the unguis roundish, convex. Nasal groove
oblong, parallel to the ridge, filled by the soft membrane of the bill; nostrils
medial, lateral, longitudinal, narrow-elliptical, open, pervious. Lower
mandible straight, with the angle very long, narrow and rounded, the
edges with about forty oblique lamellae.
Head small, oblong, compressed. Neck long and very slender. Body
full. Feet short, stout, placed behind the centre of the body; legs bare
a little above the joint; tarsus short, a little compressed, covered all round
with angular scales, those behind smaller; hind toe very small, with a