Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian AmericaCassin, John
Science
Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America
Cassin, John
Birds -- North America
Colors. Head above and neck dark greenish cinereous, the shafts of the
feathers in front black; back, rump, wing-coverts, and exposed portions
of quills, dark olive, slightly tinged with ashy; quills brownish black,
widely edged on their outer web with olive; tail dark glossy bluish
green, widely tipped with white; plumage of the middle of the throat
black, bare spaces on each side reddish orange; breast, sides, flanks,
and tibiae, dull yellowish green, very pale, and in some specimens
nearly white on the middle of the abdomen, and frequently tinged with
rufous on the flanks and tibia; under tail-coverts dark rufous,
frequently tinged with green; bill dark, light at the tip, especially of
the under mandible; tarsi light.
Hab. Texas. Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philad., and Nat. Mus.,
Washington.
Obs. There is a general resemblance of several species of this genus to
each other, almost impossible to be pointed out in the limits of our
present article. The bird now before us may be recognised, however,
without difficulty, by its comparatively large size and the dark
cinereous color of its head and neck.
Specimens of this bird in adult plumage are yet rarely brought in
collections, and we suspect is only attained in several years.
BERNICLA LEUCOPAREIA.—(Brandt.)
The White-necked Goose.
PLATE XLV. Adult Male.
On the western coast of North America, this is one of the most abundant
of the species of Geese. In California it appears regularly in the
course of its migrations in the spring and autumn, and at both seasons
is brought to the market in San Francisco, in large numbers.
This bird is a near relative of Hutchins’ Goose, a well known species,
though not of common occurrence on the Atlantic coast. It is more
frequently met with in the larger rivers of the interior. From that
species our present bird may be easily distinguished by the white ring
around the neck, a character not mentioned in the descriptions given by
authors, nor represented in the plate in Mr. Audubon’s Birds of America,
of Hutchins’ Goose. The plate alluded to is the only one of the species
which has come under our notice, and is given with that eminent
naturalist’s usual great accuracy, but may not, we suspect, represent a
bird in mature plumage. This suspicion we have been induced to entertain
from an examination of the specimen figured by Mr. Audubon, for an
opportunity to make which we are indebted to the kindness of our friend,
Mr. J. P. Giraud, of New York, to whose fine collection it belongs.
We are not, however, sufficiently familiar with Hutchins’ Goose, to feel
qualified to decide respecting the identity of the present species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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