M. Sundcvall on the Birds of Calcutta. l7l 



tliese handsome though remarkably long-necked birds. They 

 were commonly seen sitting in trees or upon posts in the lake, 

 and seemed hardly to enter the water in quest of food. Here 

 they were not so shy as they are described in Levaillant^s ' African 

 Travels.' I succeeded with some trouble in shooting one. When 

 these birds sit, they have some resemblance to gallinaceous birds 

 of the genus Penetopej but the long neck and the long straight 

 beak give them a very peculiar appearance. The first I saw sat 

 motionless on a post in the lake almost upright,, with the wings half- 

 opened, the neck curved somewhat like an S, and the long tail 

 hanging straight down ; it was as though I had seen one of the 

 monstrous animals of mythology. The food consists of fish and 

 Crustacea, with which the stomach of the specimen which I shot 

 was filled. In the wide oesophagus were many curious intestinal 

 worms. The Bengalese name is unknown to me. This species 

 is found in all the wai-m parts of the old continent, and in the 

 Indian islands. The warm regions of America have another spe- 

 cies, very little difierent, and no more species of Plotus are known. 



94. Anser . Anas indica et cana } Gm., Lath. ; an A. segyp- 



tiaca, auct. } 



Dilute rufescens, speculo alarum viridi nigricanti. Magnitude 

 Anseris albifroniis. 



Near Sucsagor at the end of March a considerable flock of 

 small reddish geese frequented the banks of the river. They 

 were said to come there yearly, but depart during the hot season, . 

 so that they probably migrated soon after I saw them. Like all 

 geese they were very wary, so that in spite of every effort I did 

 not succeed in shooting any, though I managed to observe them 

 tolerably with the help of a telescope. Their note was a cackling 

 rather like that of common wild-geese, but rougher and shorter. 

 The Bengalese name is Raz hangs or Loll hangs. The word hangs 

 is sounded like the French pronunciation of hanse, and is the 

 common name for geese and ducks. Loll signifies red. 



95. Anser domesticus. (Rostrum totum pallida rubicundum, 



longitudine capitis, basi gibbosum, pone medium fortius depressum, 

 leviter deflexum. Pedes colore rostri. Caput superne et nucha (ple- 

 rumque) castanea, limite definito, ut in A. cygnoide. Cauda alas 

 sequans. Cutis inter pedes nunquam dependens. Magnitude et 

 statura A. cinerei. Corpus cinerascens (aneerinum) subtus albidum, 

 sed color ssepe nlius.) 



The tame geese were in general somewhat unlike those which 

 occur with us. The beak had a large knob above the base, and 

 the hind neck a sharply-defined brown colour, as in the so-called 

 Tm-kish [Chinese] geese [Anser cygnoides), but the beak and feet 

 were the same colour as in our tame geese. It is probably a 



