BEAN GOOSE. 29 



plate in his " Birds of Europe," but Yarrell's figure is 

 not only a very accurate representation of two adult 

 bean geese now before me, but the measurements given 

 by liim, as well as his description of the plumage and 

 tints of the bill and feet in the bean goose, agree 

 exactly with the specimens recently procured in Norfolk; 

 and as Mr. Strickland lays much stress upon the bill in 

 his A. palvdosus being " exactly twice the length of 

 its depth at the base," and gives the relative propor- 

 tions as "two inches and three-quarters long, and 

 one inch and three-eighths deep at the base," I will 

 here give the corresponding measurements from the 

 male example of A. segetum, killed at Castleacre, and 

 from the male, shot at Beeston, by Mr. Cremer, 

 (kindly lent me for this purpose), which, singularly 

 enough, are the same in both specimens : — Total length 

 of bill, two inches and five-eighths; depth at base, 

 one inch and two-eighths ; circumference at the base, 

 three inches and six-eighths. In Mr. TJpcher's bird, 

 a female, the measurements are all less than in the 

 two males, but in relative proportion. This bird, more- 

 over, weighed only six pounds and three-quarters, whilst 

 the Castleacre specimen weighed eight pounds and two 

 ounces. Another marked feature, however, of Mr. 

 Strickland's A. paludosus is, according to his descrip- 

 tion, "the bill strongly toothed with a strong groove run- 

 ning the whole length of the lower mandible," as shown 

 also in the illustration to his paper in "The Naturalist;" 

 but here, again, the true A. segetum corresponds exactly, 

 and the same toothed edge, a little less prominent, is 

 found in the bill of the pink-footed goose, though not 

 perceptible at all in the two other figures given by Mr. 

 Strickland. It seems, therefore, impossible to come to 

 any other conclusion than thsit A. ;paludosus and the true 

 A. segetum are one and the same. 



On referring to our standard authorities on " British 



