CHAPSE RMIT. 
Geese. 
Our certainly ascertained Indian Geese are five in 
number, and form a group of birds very easily recog- 
nizable even to the beginner. 
In addition to the central position of the nostrils in 
the bill, Geese present so many other notable peculiari- 
ties that they arereally very easy to distinguish. The 
difference between a Goose and a Swan is proverbial, 
and it israther curious that any true Ducks should have 
been able to claim rank as Geese as they have done. 
All our Geese, then, have the following characteristics 
in common ;arather long neck, bearing a comparatively 
small head, provided with a beak shorter and narrower 
than is usual in the family, and very high at the root 
while sloping rapidly to the point, so that the bill, as a 
whole, has a conical form. The armature of its edges 
is in the form of teeth, and the nail is generally large, 
taking up the whole of the tip ; the whole organ being 
thus admirably adapted for cropping grass and other 
herbage. The nostrils, as above stated, are nearly 
central, the body is less heavy than is usually the case 
among Ducks, the wings are long and broad, and the 
tail is rounded. 
The legs are rather long, the shank being about as 
long as the middle toe, and are set well forward. 
The plumage is very characteristic, grey or brown in 
colour, with the edges of most of the feathers, which 
are broad and blunt, lighter, so that the general effect 
is one of transverse barring ; the quills are dark, at any 
rate at the end, and the stern and feathers at the root 
