any of several species of pure-white geese with black wingtips, pink legs, and pink bill with black gape ("grin"), belonging to the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). Hunters call it "wavey," or "wavy"-from an Indian name. Two main forms are recognized. The lesser snow goose (long called Chen hyperborea hyperborea) breeds in the Arctic and migrates chiefly to California and Japan. The greater snow goose (long called C.h. atlantica) breeds in northwestern Greenland and nearby islands and winters on the east coast of the United States from Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina, especially at Pea Island.