ANSER. 



173 



sandbank in the Jumna, and an assurance has been given him by Col 

 Graham that it is not uncommon on the Brahmaputra in Assam. This is all 

 we know of its occurrence in India. In Northern Europe it is common, and 

 probably also Central Europe and Northern Asia. 



Anser albifrons. The White-fronted Goose. 



213. Anser albifrons, Gm., Naum. Vogt. t. 289; Jerd., B. Ind. 

 iii. p. 780 ; Str. F. i. p. 259; viii. p. 421 ; Murray, Bdbk., ZooL, tjr., Sind; 

 Hume and Marsh, Ga?}ie Birds, Bid. p. 73 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, S/ud, 

 p. 284; id., Avi/. Brit. Bid. ii. p. 674, No. 1376.— The White-fronted 

 or Laughing Goose. 



Forehead white or yellowish white, followed by a narrow dark band ; chin 

 the same ; head, hind neck and nape brownish grey, shaded in some speci- 

 mens with reddish ; throat pale greyish white, darker in some ; breast and 

 flanks pale brownish, with cross bars of black, paler and whitish on the lower 

 breast, with broader black bars ; back dark greyish brown, the feathers with 

 pale reddish brown edges ; upper and under tail coverts white ; tail with the 

 middle feathers dark grey, tipped with white ; the lateral ones entirely white ; 

 primaries ashy grey, dark at the tip ; secondaries bluish black ; tertiaries mar- 

 gined with dull white ; greater and lesser wing coverts grey, edged with rufous ; 

 abdomen white; bill livid fleshy or purplish red, the middle of the upper man- 

 dible with an orange tinge ; nail at tip white or yellowish white ; legs and feet 

 orange. 



Length. — 27 to 28 inches; wing 16 to 17; bill at front 17 to 1-9; tarsus 3. 



jfftzZ'.— Sind, Beloochistan (Quetta), Persian Gulf (Bussorah), Afghanistan 

 (Arghandab), Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. 



In Sind the White-fronted Goose is much more rare than the Grey Lag. Mr. 

 Hume says "that about one bird of this species visits this empire, for every 

 thousand of Grey Lags, or every five thousand of the Barred-headed Geese." 

 In Egypt it is most abundant, also at Fao in INIesopotamia, and on the Caspian. 



