532 Count T. Salvadori on Alpheraky 's 



that, speaking of this bird in the ' Catalogue/ I made the 

 remark (p. 103) that it was " quite possible that under 

 A. serrirostris I had included two distinct form — sone larger, 

 with the culmen 3" 15 inches long and with the head and neck 

 huffish brown {A. middendorffi) , and the other smaller, 

 much more like A.fabalis ( = segetum) > but larger and with 

 the bill much thicker (A. serrirostris) ." Of the six specimens 

 mentioned in the ' Catalogue/ the first [a. ? ad. Tunka, 

 Amoor-land, May (G. Radde, Seebohm Coll.)] is the one 

 which I thought could be attributed to A. middendorffi, while 

 the last [/. Ad. Yokohama (H. Prijer, Seebohm Collection] 

 has become the type of Anser mentalis Oates, Man. Game- 

 Birds of India, ii. p. 77 (1899). Mr. Alpheraky, after having 

 discussed the characters given by Oates and having examined 

 two more similar specimens, has arrived at the conclusion 

 that Anser mentalis is not specifically different from 

 A. serrirostris*. Therefore Ave have only to discuss A. serri- 

 rostris and the bird which I have supposed to belong to 

 A. middeyidorffi . As to A. serrirostris there is no dithculty 

 in recognising it, for although very similar to A. fobalis 

 ( = segetum) it is much larger and is especially remarkable 

 for its large beak and feet. 



As regards A. middendorfli, in the ' Catalogue of Birds ' I 

 have given as distinctive characters : the size, larger than that 

 of A. serrirosli'is, the culmen attaining the length of even 

 3*15 inches, and the head and neck huffish brown. Such 

 was the bird from Tunka in the British Museum, absolutely 

 similar to the bird from Boganida figured by Middendorff, 

 Reise Sibir. ii. 2, Taf. xx. f. 1 (head). Also the figure of the 

 head of Anser arvensis sibiricus (Alpheraky, op. cit. pi. 23) 

 agrees in every respect with MiddendorfFs figure and the bird 

 in the British Museum mentioned above. Mr. Alpheraky 

 recognises Middendorff's Goose as a distinct species, but he 

 thinks that the name Anser middendorffi cannot stand. 

 According to him, Severtzow, under the name of A. midden- 

 dorffi, has included also specimens of A. arvensis and has 



* I accept for the present this conclusion, although with some 

 hesitation. 



