told that these Goose eggs are found also at the edge of the
Salt Lake itself."
Again Prjevalsky say :—
" We found this beautiful Goose at Lake Kokonor where
the first migrants appeared on the 5TH of March ; and in the
course of the whole month small flocks of from five to twelve
in number arc to be seen frequently. Also at the sources of the
river Tetunga we saw some A. indicus, which were breeding
there ; and a female, which we killed 011 the Cth of April, was
already laying.
" In spring the male chases the female on the wing, and
occasionally makes peculiar darts, resembling those of our
Common Raven, and when the female is shot, the male usually
flics long about its dead mate, until it shares the same fate."
I IIAVE measured and weighed a very large series of this
species. The males average appreciably larger than the females
of the same age, but they take some years to attain their maximum
dimensions and weight, and many females arc, therefore,
as large or larger than many males, and it seems therefore
useless to give the dimensions of the two sexes separately.
Apparent adults varied as follows :—
Length, 27-25 to 33-5 ; expanse, 5 6 to 66 ; wing, I 6 ' 0 to 19/0 ;
tail from vent, 5 0 to 7 0 ; tarsus, 2-5 to 3^3 ; bill from gape, R8
to 2 3 ; weight, 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. 1 4 ozs.
I have weighed I find more than a hundred ; but I have
never obtained one weighing quite 7 lbs. ; yet Jerdon gives the
weight as 7 lbs. to 8 lbs. Only two of my specimens exceeded
6 lbs. 8 ozs. The great majority are less than 6 lbs.
The legs and feet are bright orange, sometimes paler, occasionally
only yellow ; claws horny black ; the irides deep brown ;
the bill orange yellow to orange, rarely only pale, lemon yellow
often paler or greenish towards the nostrils; the nail black or
blackish.
There is a prominent tubercle nearly half an inch long in old
males, just below the carpal joint, varying in size according to
sex and age, but always more prominent than in the Grey Lag,
and other Geese already mentioned.
THE PLATE, though a little coarse, and on the whole rather too
brown, is good, though the bill is generally more orange. The
bird in the foreground is a gosling about three months old
obtained in September in Tibet. This has never been figured
before, and is so unlike the adult that it may be well to subjoin
a description.
It differs from the adult altogether in the head and neck
markings. The bill is, as in the adult, yellow, but with the nail
deep brown ; the legs and feet appear to have been a brownish
orange ; the forehead is brownish white, a little tinged with
rusty ; there is a dusky line through the lores to the eyes ; the
whole crown, occiput, and nape is a sooty or dusky black;
below this the back of the neck is wood brown, and the sides
and front of the lower part of the neck a pale dusky greyish,
mottled with whitish, this being the colour of the tips of the
feathers ; most of the feathers of the breast and abdomen and
lower parts generally have a pale, rusty or fulvous tinge towards
the tips ; the conspicuous dark banding of the flanks is almost
entirely wanting, only one dark greyish brown feather on each
side having as yet made its appearance.
There is no trace of either the two distinct black head-bars or
of the conspicuous white neck streak, so that the head and neck
look strangely unlike those of the adult.
The tail is rather browner than in the old bird. The rest of
the plumage is very similar to that of the adult, but perhaps
everywhere less pure in colour.
BESIDES THE six species of Geese above enumerated, it is very
probable that other species of true Geese occur within our
limits.
First there is A user (Bernicld) ruficollis, of which I subjoin* a
description, and of which Mr. Blyth remarked :—"This is probably
the species of which four were seen near Nagpur, one of which
was procured—(Bengal Sporting Magazine for April 1836,
Then there is the large A user cyguoides, very like the tame
Goose of Lower Bengal, (but wanting the tubercle on the bill)—
with a black bill, and orange fleshy legs and feet; top and back
of the head and neck very deep brown, and the whole upper
plumage darkish brown, the feathers narrowly margined with
white, and the upper tail-coverts pure white—which I have had
reason to suspect occurs in Assam. But it seemed useless to
* Anser (BernielaJ ruficollis.
"Adult Male in bieetiiiig-ihess.—Entire crown of head, extending from the forehead
far on the back of the neck, black ; entire throat, fore-part of cheeks and a band
encircling the eye, and joining the crown, also black ; a large loral patch, a spot
under the eye, and a broad stripe extending backwards from the hinder part of the
eye, on to the sides of the neck, and another stripe extending downwards on to the
neck, and then proceeding backwards and joining the sides of the neck, pure white ;
a very large auricular patch deep chestnut, entirely surrounded by the before-mentioned
white line; on the throat the black narrows in the centre of the lower
portion ; the whole of the fore-part of the chest, and sides of the neck extending
far backwards and forming an interrupted collar, deep brick-red ; a narrow white
band encircling the whole of the fore-part of the body margined on both sides with
black ; rest of the body glossy black with slight greenish reflections, excepting the
edges of the wing-coverts which are greyish white, and the rump, abdomen, and
sides of the body which arc pure white j the flanks are banded slightly with black ;
under tail-coverts while ; under wing-coverts black J bill and feet black ; iris dark
brown. Total length zo inches; cuhnen, I'o ; wing, 14-5 ; tail, 60 j tarsus, 2-1,
"Female.—In general similar to the male, but the colours very much duller."
f Di ester's Birds of Europe.)
H