The True Geese. (i^i 



In the adult bird, the whole head and 

 a broad band down each side of the neck 

 are white ; a black curved band across 

 the crown, and a shorter band behind it. 

 The foreneck, immediately below the 

 white throat, is brownish ashy, becoming 

 paler and merging into the grey of the 

 breast, the feathers of which are indis- 

 tinctly barred with whitish. The whole 

 abdomen and the under tail-coverts are 

 white. The feathers of the sides of the 

 body are brown, passing into rufous and 

 tipped with whitish. The under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries are bluish-grey. 

 The hindneck is brownish ashy, paling 

 on the mantle. The sides of the breast, 

 the lower part of the mantle, the back 

 and the scapulars are grey, each feather 

 passing into ashy brown and tipped paler. 

 The rump is bluish-grey, and the upper 

 tail-coverts are white. The tail-feathers 

 are grey with white margins and broad 

 white tips. The upper wing-coverts are 

 pale, clear, bluish grey. The outer pri- 

 maries are grey with blackish tips ; the 

 inner primaries and the outer secondaries 

 are entirely blackish, the latter with fine, 

 narrow, pale margins. The inner second- 

 aries are ashy brown. 



A young bird has the forehead, the 



