DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Bernicla. Stephens, Continuation of Shaw’s Zoology, XII. p. 45, (1824.)
Bill, small, shorter than the head, upper mandible elevated at the base, tip with a broad nail, margins of both mandibles finely serrated. Wings, long, pointed; tail, very short, rounded; tarsi, moderate; toes, rather short. Probably contains six or eight species, inhabiting various parts of the world.
Bernicla nigricans. (Lawrence.) Anser nigricans. Lawrence, Annals N. Y. Lyceum, IV. p. 171, (1846.)
Form. Bill and head, and feet, rather small; wings, with the second quill longest; tail, short, composed of sixteen feathers; coverts, both above and below, long, reaching almost to the end of the tail.
Dimensions, according to Mr. Lawrence. Total length 22½ inches, alar extent 44, bill along the ridge 1³/₁₆, from gap 1⅜, lower mandible 1¼, length of tarsus 2¼, middle toe 2, outer 1⅞, inner 1½, weight 3 lbs.
Total length of skin from Delaware Bay, from tip of bill to end of tail about 22 inches, wing 13¾, tail about 5 inches.
Colours. Male. Neck almost completely encircled by a band of white, broadest immediately in front, and narrowest behind. Head, neck, breast and abdomen, glossy black, having on the latter a brownish tinge. Upper parts of the body umber brown, nearly black on the rump, some of the feathers with paler margins; quills and tail feathers brownish black. Feathers on the sides and flanks tipped with white; upper and under tail coverts, and ventral region, white. Bill and feet dark, nearly black.
Hab. Atlantic coast, New Jersey. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. The Black Brant is nearly related to the common Brant (B. brenta), but can readily be distinguished by the uniform black colour of the inferior parts of the body, and the ring on the neck uninterrupted in front, and not separated into two white patches on the sides of the neck, as in the common species. It appears also to bear some resemblance to the Bernicla glaucogastra, Brehm. Handb. Vogel Deutschlands, p. 849 (Ilmenau, 1831), but may be distinguished from it also by the characters just mentioned.