274 On Anser erytliropus and its Allies. 



of A. gambeli having the culmen 2"35 in., and gradually 



diminish to those of an example of A erythropus having 



the culmen barely 1'2 in., a very great difference indeed; 



my measurements are taken from the tip of the beak to the 



commencement of the frontal feathers : — 



Culmen. Tarsus, 



in. in. 



A. gamheli. ' N. Amer. Birds,' by Baird, Brewer, 



& liidgway, i. p. 449 2-;J5 3-10 



A. (/amheli. Oat. of Birds in B. M. xxvii. p. 97. . 2"3 

 A. alhifrons. Leadenhall Market, January. Im- 

 mature 2-1 2-8 



A. gamheli?, §. California, February 1855, in 



Cambridge Museum 1"9 2-8 



A. albifrons, $ . Islay, N.B., January 2-0 2-6 



A. albifrons, $ . Co. Mayo (F. Coburn) 1-8 2-4 



A. albifrons, $ . Egypt, March 17 2-3 



Mr. Coburn's example, $ {A. erythropus?), from 



the Wash, shot in January 1"5 2'4 



A. erythropus, <S . Northumberland, September. 



Immature 1-4 2'2 



A. erythropus, 5 . Siberia, June. (Dresser, B. 



of E. vi. p. 383.) 1-3 2-2 



A. erythropus. Delta of the Nile, January 1875. 



Immature 1-2 2-2 



A. erythropus was first introduced as a British bird at 

 a meeting of the Zoological Society of London held in 

 November 1886, when a young male, shot by Mr. A. C. 

 Chapman on the coast of Northumberland, was placed upon 

 the table ; of this Mr. Chapman has given a full account in 

 'The Field' of Dec. 11th, 1886 (vol. Ixviii. p. 87), where he 

 states that it weighed only 2^ lbs., which is 2 lbs. less than 

 Mr. Coburn^s bird. Indeed, so small is A. erythropus that it 

 has been compared to an Eider Duck and even to a Mallard : 

 one shot on the Yenisei by Mr. Popham weighed 4| lbs. The 

 weight oi A. alhifrons is given in Mr. Hartiug's ' Handbook 

 Brit. B.' ed. 2, at ^^-1 lbs., but that is much more than the 

 weight of two Norfolk examples weighed by me, which were 

 5 lbs. and 4| lbs. respectively. Another specimen of A. ery- 

 thropus, the head of which I saw, was shot in January 1888 

 in Somersetshire, but it was supposed to have escaped from 



