Red Flamingo, Phœnicopterus ruber, Wils. Amer. Orn, v. viii. p. 145.
Phœnicopterus ruber, Bonap. Syn. p. 348.
American or Red Flamingo, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 71.
American Flamingo, Phœnicopterus ruber, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 255.
GENUS II. ANSER, Briss. GOOSE.
Bill shorter than the head, rather higher than broad at the base, somewhat conical, depressed toward the end, rounded at the tip; upper mandible with the dorsal line sloping, the ridge broad and flattened, the sides sloping, the edges soft and obtuse, internally with numerous oblique marginal lamellæ, the unguis obovate, convex; nasal groove oblong, 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 soft and obtuse, with numerous oblique lamellæ, the tip broadly convex. Head small, oblong, compressed; neck long and slender; body very full, slightly depressed. Feet short, stout; tibia bare for a short space below; tarsus short, a little compressed, covered all round with angular scales; hind toe very small and elevated, third toe longest, fourth longer than second; all reticulated at the base, scutellate toward the end, the anterior webbed. Claws small, arched, rather compressed. Plumage close, compact above, blended beneath. Wings long, convex, the second quill longest, the first and third nearly equal. Tail very short, of sixteen or more feathers.
378. 1. Anser Canadensis, Linn. Canada Goose.
Plate CCI. Male and Female.
Tail of eighteen feathers; bill, feet, and claws black, head and two upper thirds of neck glossy black; forehead, cheeks, and chin, tinged with brown; lower eyelid white; a broad band of white across the throat to behind the eye; rump and tail-feathers black; general colour of the rest of upper parts greyish-brown, wing-coverts shaded into ash-grey, all the feathers terminally edged with very pale brown; lower part of neck passing to greyish-white, which is the general colour of the lower parts, unless in old birds where it is buff, with the exception of the abdomen, which is pure white, the sides, which are pale brownish-grey, the feathers tipped with white, and the lower wing-coverts, which are also pale brownish-grey; margins of rump and upper tail-coverts pure white. Female with the tints somewhat duller.
Male, 43, 65. Female, 41.
Breeds sparingly from the Mississippi to Nova Scotia; abundantly in Labrador, and farther north. In the interior, on the Missouri, and across to the Columbia River. Abundant. Migrates far south in winter.