76 INDIAN DUCKS 



any of the innumerable specimens tliafc I have examined in India, iiave the 

 bills had any orange or yellow tint alrant them." (Hume) 



Measurements.—" Length about 33 inches, wing 1«, tail GTj, cnlmen 2'7, 

 tarsus 3''2." iSalvadirn.) 



Female.—Only differs in being smaller. Scully, ' Stray Feathers ' (loc. 

 (it.), gives the measurements of the female as follows : " Length 31 inches, 

 tail 6, tarsus 3, bill from gape 2'7." 



The Young are far less marked underneath, and the majority of Jjirds 

 sliot in India will be found nearly white underneath. In the same place as 

 that in which he gives the alwve dimensions for a female, Scully gives 

 others of a young bird : " Lengtli 30'5 inches, expanse 60'25, wing 16'5, tail 

 6'3, tarsus 3, bill from gape 2'65. Weight 5 lbs. 10 ozs." 



The Indian bird is said to differ from AnsiT ansci' (the Common Wild 

 Goose) in being rather larger and with proportionately larger bill and feet, 

 and the adult bird is also said to be more marked with black on the under- 

 parts, though this last distinction does not hold good with most Indian 

 specimens. 



Alpheraky, in his lieautiful book on European and Asiatic Geese, shows 

 that our Indian form of Grey Lag is not entitled to a separate specific name, 

 nor does he even consider it worthy of subspecific rank. He writes that he 

 is unable to find any points differing sufficiently constantly to enable him to 

 divide the two forms. 



Weight and size he shows to be of no value, for whereas the normal 

 Indian bird — this must be nibriroslrif;, if there is such a bird — weighs only 

 some 6 to Hi lbs., Naumann gives the weight of a western European 

 specimen as being I63 lbs. 



Eichness of plumage may be admitted as individual, not specific at all. 



This- leaves only the comparative size of the liill and colouration of the 

 soft parts as a means of differentiation considered hitherto by naturalists. 



The Ijill is said to be proportionately longer in the eastern than in tlie 

 western form, and the feet and bill more deeply tinged with pink. Person- 

 ally I cannot discriminate Ijetween the two forms. 



Hume, in Game-Birds,' goes into the question as to whether this Ijird 

 is the same as the one known in Europe as Anscr cincrcns, and he there 

 notes the difference between the two species in his usual accurate manner, 

 and a few ornithologists agree with him that the two are distinct races. 

 If so, Hodgson's name of rtibriro.itris stands good for our Indian form. 

 Hume's distribution given in ' Game-Birds ' applies, of course, to both, and 

 would have to be greatly curtailed in its limits outside India, if the birds 

 were separated. 



Distribution. — In the British Museum Catalogue, the distribution 

 of this goose is given as " Siberia in winter, Northern India and 

 Southern China " ; this, of course, includes all the intervening 

 countries, at all events whilst the birds are on migration. 



