ANSER ANSER 191 



Order AN8ERES. 



Family ANATIDiE. 



ANSER ANSER (Linnajus). 



GEEY LAG-GOOSE. 



Anas anser, Linii. Syst. Nat. i, p. 197 (1766). 



Anser anser, Hartcrl, Kat. VogcUamml. p. 226 (1891) ; Etianijcr, J.f. 0. 



1900, p. 70. 

 Anser ferus, Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xxvii, p. 89. 

 Anser cinereus, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 358 (1867) ; Kocnig, 



■J. f. 0. 1888, p. 295 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 103. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Italy. 



General colour of plumage ash-brown, darker on the crown, back and 

 scapulars, and paler and more bluish-grey on the rump and wing-coverts ; 

 a narrow white line on the forehead ; primaries grey, with darker tips, 

 secondaries darker ; tail ash-brown, tipped with white; underparts whitish, 

 with a few dark marks on the abdomen ; flanks ash-brown, tipped with 

 white. 



Iris brown ; bill orange flesh-colour, with a white nail ; feeli flesh-colour, 

 with white claws. 



Total length 32 inches, wing 18, culmen 2-50, tarsus 3. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather smaller. 



The Grey Lag-Goose is to be found in winter in North Tunisia, 

 and examples of it may not unfrequently be seen in the Tunis market. 

 These are said to be obtained in the extensive marshes lying between 

 Mater and Bizerta, where I have seen vast flocks of Wild-Geese, 

 when shooting in that neighbourhood in the month of February. I 

 was never able to get within shot of the birds, but the Arabs living 

 near Mater often manage to secure a few at flighting time. 



The Geese are said to frequent these marshes throughout the 

 winter, arriving in November and December, and leaving again for 

 the North at the end of February or beginning of March. There 

 seems to be no record of Wild-Geese being met with in either Central 



