RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 



AN SERES. 



281 

 ANATID^. 



\f^ 





Bernicla ritficollis (Pallas*). 



THE RED-BKEASTED GOOSE. 



Anser ruficollis. 



Bernicla, Boie f.— Bill much shorter than the head, sub-conical, higher than 

 broad at the base, narrowing to the end ; unguis, broadly ovate ; edges of the 

 bill nearly straight, scarcely showing the margins of the lamella ; nostrils oval, 

 placed in the anterior portion of the nasal depression, near the centre of the bill. 

 Feathers on the neck narrow, blended. Wings large, the second quill usually 

 the longest. Tail short, rounded. Legs sliort, stout ; the tarsus reticulate ; the 

 three anterior toes long, united by a membrane, hind toe small, elevated ; claws 

 small, that on the middle toe broadly rounded. 



Tins beautiful species is an inhabitant of Siberia, and 

 occasionally wanders on migration as far as the British 



* Anser ruficollis, Pallas, Spicil. Zool. vi. p. 21, tav. v. (1769). 



f Isis, 1822, p. .563. This genus has been generally allowed to include the 

 present species, and the Editor accepts the arrangement to avoid the multiplication 

 of genera, but ho does not consider it at all satisfactory. 



VOL. IV. 



