Wild Geese 165 



this country. Alpheraky describes three other forms of Asiatic 

 Bean Geese, which he considers as specifically distinct. These 

 species, sub-species and local races are determined, to a very large 

 degree, by the colouring of the soft parts, the bill with its nail, the 

 legs, toes and membranes with the claws, and the eje-lids. I 

 propose, in the course of this paper, to draw your attention to 

 the colouring of the soft parts of two of the Common English Geese. 



The Pink-footed Goose was only admitted by our writers as 

 specifically distinct from the Bean Goose in 1839, when Mr. Bartlett 

 exhibited specimens at the Zoological Society under the name of 

 Anst'f phaniicopits, a name which was subsequently changed, for 

 reasons of priority, to A)iser hrachyrhynchits. It is held to be a good 

 species by practicalh' all our present-day writers, and with justice, 

 for not only are the bill and feet peculiarly coloured, but the bill is 

 abnormally short, a good structural character, while the shoulders 

 are very light in colour, approximating to the Grev-lag in this respect, 

 and clearly differentiating this Goose from the Bean. Notwith- 

 standing these facts, both Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Cordeaux regarded 

 this (lOose as a local race or island-form of the Bean-Goose, and were 

 unwilling to give it specific rank. If one turns back to the white- 

 nailed Geese, the same confusion is oresent. There is our own 

 White-front {Auser albifrons) the Lesser White-front [Anser 

 erythropns), which has more white on the forehead, and is much 

 smaller. Lastly, the American White-front {Anser gambeli), a 

 Western form of larger size than the type, with more black on the 

 under parts. Here again, the colouring of the soft parts forms the 

 principal key to the diagnosis. 



Alpheraky, in his valuable work, lays the greatest possible 

 stress on this point. He describes the colours with exceeding 

 minuteness, and concludes with a laudatory criticism of Mr. 

 Frohawk's illustrations. " I can guarantee," he says, " that the 

 bills in these drawings are presented by the artist in their 

 normal colouring with extraordinary exactitude." Now, it is 

 impossible to read Alpheraky's description of, say, the White- 

 fronted Goose, and to find any similarity between the letter-press 

 and Mr. Frohawk's coloured figure. Alpheraky himself describes 

 (p. 45) the feet as orange, bill white flesh-tint, locally with a 

 slight wash of blue ; yellow edge to the nares, a median longitudinal 

 streak on the culmen, and the basal part of the rami of the lower 

 mandible of same colour. Mr. Frohawk illustrates a Goose with 

 rosy-flesh-coloured legs, and rosy flesh-coloured bill, without a 

 trace of yellow. Practically, as far as the soft parts are concerned, 

 this is exactly similar to his figure of the Grey-lag, except that the 

 toe-nails are white in the former, and dark horn in the latter. The 

 bill of the immature White-front, where the real difficulties begin to 

 come in, is not figured at all. 



Of the Grey -lag, Alpheraky says (p. 27) : " The bill is of a more 

 or less vivid pink flesh-colour, but as a rare exception yellowish 



