THE GREY LAG-GOOSE.
India is not the one figured, but that which is less barred below
and has the pinky or reddish bill.
The plumage of our birds varies a good deal. In some,
which I take to be the young, the lower breast and the whole
abdomen to vent are pure white ; in many they are strongly
tinged with sandy or orange; in others very thickly and conspicuously
mottled with brownish black. The head and neck
vary from pale ashy or earthy brown to dark clove brown ;
in most there is a mingled white and orange patch on the
forehead. In some there is a similar spot at the base of the
upper mandible on each side, just above the gape. Often
in birds killed just before they leave us in March or April,
most of the feathers of the head and cheeks arc obscurely tipped
with orange, and traces of this are seen on the whole neck.
I note that most of our birds have a tiny patch of white on
the centre of the chin.
In some specimens the breast and abdomen are so closely
blotched and mottled with black or blackish-brown, and pale
rusty buff, (the former predominating,) as to leave no other colour
visible. The black markings will sometimes continue to within
an inch of the vent, the pale rust colour to 2yi inches beyond
this. In some specimens the gathering of the feathers of the
upper neck into parallel longitudinal ridges is most marked ; in
others it is quite wanting. In some the cap and back of the upper
neck are conspicuously darker ; in some they are absolutely
uniform in colour with the rest of the neck. Generally the
whole tone of the plumage varies much more than it usually docs
in wild birds, or than it does in any other Goose with which I
am acquainted ; and though the brownest is never so brown as
either segetum, brachyrhynchus, albifions or miimtiis, and the
greyest never so grey as indicus, still some are very much darker
and browner, and some very much paler and greyer than others.
As SOME difficulty is grt£J?1SS5r£td S ^ b f S S C n S d K hope that our plates
will, as a rule, prove sufficient:—
Name.
Colour of
nail of bill.
Colour of rest of
Bill.
Colour of legs
and feet.
Wing.
Bill at front
from margin
of feathers
to tip of nail.
The Grey
Lag.
(A. citiireus.l
White or
whitish-
Varies from creamy
white through
fleshy pink to
dingy livid puv-
[ plish red.
Varies as doe
that of tin
bill.
15-75 to 19-0 2-4 tO 2 S
THE GREY LAG-GOOSE. 05
Name. Colour of
nail of Bill.
Colour of rest of
Bill.
Colour of legs
and feet. Wing
Bill at front
from margin
of feathers
to tip'of nail.
The Whitefronted
Goose.
{A. albifrons)
White or
yellowish
white.
Varies from livid
fleshy to yellow
in either case,
with more or less
of an orange tinge
Bright orange,
sometimes
tinged
reddish.
15-0 to 17 0 i'7 to I '9
The Dwarf
Goose.
(A. erytkropus.)
Whitish. Varies from
reddish to livid
fleshy {? at times
from yellow to
orange.)
Fleshy red
or pink (?
at times orange.)
132 to I4«l
The Bean
Goose.
{A. segcium,
and allied
subspecies.)
Black. Black, combined
with orange or
orange yellow in
varying proportions.
Varies from
yellow to orange,
165 to 195 2'o to 2*45
The Pinkfooted
Goose.
(A. brachyrhynchus.)
Black. Black, with pink
varying to red
with a somewhat
orange tinge.
Varies from
pink and orange
pink to
fleshy red.
'5'5 to 175 1-65 to 1S5
The Barredheaded
Goose.
(A. indicus.)
Blackish or
black.
Orange, greenish
towards nostrils.
Bright orange.
160 to 10 0 I S to 21