Branta bernicla
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae
Subfamily Anserinae
Adult.— Head, neck, and upper breast black; streaks of white on the sides of the neck; back and wings brown; belly whitish; tail black, base white.
The Brant is a migrant along the coast in March and April, and in October and November. It keeps well out along the shore, and is found in numbers only at certain points, such as Monomoy on Cape Cod, and on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Here the Brant sometimes occur in great flocks, which rest in long lines on the sand-bars, or feed at the edge of the flats, tearing up eel-grass by the roots. They may be known from the Canada Goose by the smaller size, by the absence of white on the throat, and by the black breast.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)