144 ORNITHOLOGICAT, EXPLORATIONS. 



nients ajjiee with those given as taken from typical Amur specimens.* 

 They will therefore have to stand as A. scgetum viiddendorffi. 



The Chinese specimen is probably entitled to the name A. segetuvi 

 scrrirostris t on accouut of its locality. It is difficult to make anything 

 out of Swinhoe's descriptiou. He says (P. Z. S., 1871, p. 417): "They 

 are of large size, and peculiar in having huge bills approximating that 

 of A. (jrandis. I have handled several, and they were all so distinguish- 

 able." The "^1. grandis^^ with which Swinhoe was acquainted was only 

 Middendorlf's ''grand is'' (cf. P. Z. S., 1803, p. 323), as the true grandis of 

 Pallas and Gmeliu at that time had not yet been rediscovered. If the 

 "hugeness" of the bill in his specimen only approximated thatof ^r«w- 

 f/is,, it must have been somewhat similar. to that of the Shanghai bird 

 in the National Museum. 



Not knowing of the occurrence in Eastern Asia of a sleuder-billed 

 form like the typical A. segctum, I have referred all instances of the 

 latter name to aerrirostris, where it has been used in opposition to A. 

 m iddendorffi. 



It seems as if both forms occur in Japan. In the different lists of 

 the birds of Japan, published by Blakiston and Pryer, we find repeat- 

 edly : "There seem to be two forms, a large and a small, possibly sepa- 

 rable." Captain Blakiston has most liberally placed his manuscript 

 notes in my hands for a critical review, but as only measurements of the 

 bills of a few specimens are given I can throw very little light on the 

 present question. The measurements given all belong to ^. middendorffi 

 (80""" and 3| to 2§ inches = 77 to 70'""'). 



Finally, I give the detailed description of my two birds as they were 



taken down from the fresh specimens less than an hour after their 



death : 



<? ad., U. S. Nat. Mm. No. 92824, L. Stejneger No. 2022; Ladiginsk, Bering Island, May 

 10, 1883. 

 Tip of middle toe (without claw) reaches 72™™ beyond tip of tail, legs being 



* The measurements given by Severzow of the bill of males from the Amur (Ibis, 187(5, 

 p. 417) , 1" 9'"— 2" ' may probably rest on a mistake or a misprint. Schrenck gives 

 commissure 3 inches ( = 76'»i"'), and culmen 2" 9'" —2" 10'" (= 70-72™™). 



tThe following is a partial synonymy of this form: 



Anser segetum serrirostris SwiNU. 



IR'oZ.—Anser segctuni Miduend., Sibir. Rcise, II (p. 22,')).— Swish., Ibis, 18C0, p. 67.-7d., ibic/., 1861, p. 



344.— Jd., ibid.. 18G.', p. 253.— /d., ibid.. 1867, p. 392.— Jd., ibid.. 1875, p. 4.56 {part).— Id.. P. Z. S.. 



1863, p. 323.— SciIiiENCK, Iteis. Auiuil., I, p. 402 (I860).— llADDE'llcis. Siid. 0st-SU)ir., II (p. 



356) (1863). — Dyuow. & i'AUVEX, J. f. Oru., 1868, p. 338 — Blakist & Peyeis, Ibis. 1878, p, 212 



(part)t—Iid.. Tr. As. Soc. Jap., VHI, 1880, p. 182 (part) !.— {A. aegitum) lid., ibid.. X, 1882, 



p. 94 (part) ?.— Blakist., Chvysanth., 18S3, p. 27 (part) '..—{segetum) Id., Amend. List li. Jap., 



p. 8 {part) ?. 

 1871. — Aiuer gegcttim var. serrirostris Swinh., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 417. — Taczan., J. f. Orn., 1873, p. 108.^ 



Jd., Orn. Faun. Vest. Sibir., p. 67 (1877).— id., Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1877, p. 42. 



