142 



ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



It is at first sight evident tlint tliese birds belong to two groups, one 

 witb rather slender bills, to which all the European specimens are re 

 lerable,* the other with much heavier bills ('* huge bills," as Swinhoe 

 says), to which all the eastern birds belong. In coloration I can detect 

 no difference, except that the eastern specimens have the heads per- 

 ceptibly more brownish, a feature which, according to Schreuck's state- 

 ment, is not constant. This brown wash seems to me to be due to a 

 similar cause to that which colors the heads of the swans more or less 

 rusty. This is especially striking in specimens which still have the 

 white semilunar spots on the feathers bordering the bill, in which 

 these white spots are tinged exactly in the same manner as in the swans. 

 A white-fronted goose before me presents the same feature. If in the 

 swans the rusty color is due to external staining, then the same is the 

 case with the brown color of the heads of the eastern geese. As the 

 rest of the plumage is essentially the same both in the western and the 

 eastern birds, the whole question as to their distinctness becomes a 

 question of size. 



Before proceeding further a comparative table of dimensions may not 

 be out of place. 



U. S. Nat Mns. No. 



92824. 

 92825. 

 101207. 

 85758. 

 34099- 

 57 ICO. 

 57161. 

 57162. 



Collector's name. 



2022 



2023 



114 



58 



L. Stejneger.. 



do 



N. Grebnitski 

 L. P. .Jouy.... 



Locality. 



Bering Island May 10, 1883 



do j May 10,1883 



do I May 22, 1884 ($) ad. 



Shanghai | Dec. 27,1880 i 



Mus. Stockholm "Suecia" (63=) July 21, 1859 



Schliiter Germany '• 



do ' do I j 



do do 



*I am not prepared to pass any opinion at present upon tlie two alicfiefl Earoi)eau 

 races. So much is certain from my uuiterial at hand, that the number of lamellte does 

 not correspond with the greater or less development of tlie yellow color on the bill. 

 An old male with a very narrow and well-defined yellow ring bt-hind the nail, even 

 narrower than i>u Nauni.anu's pi. '267, vol. xi, has not less than twenty-six lamelljB. 

 As my specimens agree mutually in all chaiacters in which they are separate fi-om 

 the eastern ones, it suffices here to hantUe them as one group. 



