74 Manual of the Game Birds of Ifidia. 



as the Bean-Goose are closely alike in 

 plumage, and differ chiefly in size, in 

 the length of the bill, and in the depth 

 of the lower mandible. In the following 

 measurements the length of the bill 

 is always taken in a direct line from 

 the edge of the forehead to the tip of 

 the nail of the upper mandible. By the 

 depth of the lower mandible is meant 

 the greatest depth of its visible portion, 

 when the bill is closed, below the edge 

 of the upper mandible. The bill closes 

 naturally and firmly if the two mandibles 

 are brought together by the pressure of 

 the fingers, even in a dry skin. It is only 

 by a measurement of this kind that the 

 massive or slender character of the lower 

 mandible can be accurately indicated. I 

 am not prepared to give trivial names to 

 these Geese at present, but shall denote 

 them by their systematic names. 



Ansci' fabalis, (Latham). This is the 

 common Bean-Goose of Europe, admitted 

 into the list of Indian birds by Messrs. 

 Hume and Marshall on the strength of 

 a statement made by Blyth that Gould 

 had a specimen from the Deccan in his 

 collection of birds. This specimen is no 

 longer in the Gould Collection, which is 

 now in the British Museum, and some 



