° '{gig J General Notes. - 563 



In spite of its pronounced characters, it bears a general resemblance to 

 the African Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus) , and as in two or three struc- 

 tural features the latter evinces a slight approach to Anseranas, the resem- 

 blance is possibly more than a superficial one. 



The most evident peculiarities of the Pied Goose are the semipalmate feet, 

 long, incumbent hind-toe, and long, sharp claws. The bill is peculiar, 

 the face bare, and the top of the skull is elevated into a large, feathered pro- 

 tuberance. Internally a remarkable feature is the very long, coiled trachea. 

 Pycraft states that the convolutions of the intestines are comparatively 

 primitive in style. 



In addition to these characters, I wish to call attention to several others 

 some of which at least have probably not been recorded. 



Gadow states that in the Anseres the oil-gland has but a single pair of 

 orifices. I have examined several genera, including Plectropterus, Cygnus, 

 Branta, Dendrocygna, and Nettion, and have found no exceptions to this 

 statement except in Anseranas. Of the two individuals of this goose seen, 

 one had eight, the other sixteen orifices in the large, heavily tufted oil- 

 gland. 



In the Anseres the standard number of middle primary coverts on the 

 under side of the wing is six. I have determined this character in twenty- 

 three genera belonging to nine of the eleven subfamilies recognized in the 

 British Museum Catalogue, including Cereopsis. With the exception only 

 of Anseranas, and Plectropterus, I have found invariably six of these coverts. 

 The single specimen of Plectropterus examined had five; the two individuals 

 of Anseranas had but two and three respectively. 



Every one of the numerous genera of the order inspected, including 

 Cereopsis and Plectropterus, has had the pollex furnished with a sharp claw, 

 with the sole exception of Anseranas, both specimens of which agreed in the 

 entire absence of a claw. 



I have investigated the arrangement of the deep plantar tendons in 

 Nettion, Cygnopsis, Plectropterus and Anseranas. In all but the last the 

 two tendons are thoroughly fused for a variable distance above the base of 

 the toes. In Anseranas there is no such fusion, the two tendons being 

 loosely connected by two thin bands of tendinous tissue. 



Of skeletal peculiarities, it may be noted that the furcula is V-shaped 

 rather than U-shaped, as is usual in the Anseres, and with the symphysis 

 enlarged ; also that the palatines are very narrow, the rear edge of the meta- 

 sternum only slightly notched and the pelvis of peculiar shape. 



In the ' Cambridge Natural History ' the misleading statement is made 

 that "Anseranas and Cereopsis alone " have " the foot semipalmated." The 

 former alone is truly semipalmate; in Cereopsis the webs are rather deeply 

 incised, but this is also the case in the genus Nesochen. 



A more serious error originated with Yarrell in 1827 (Trans. Linn. Soc, 

 XV, 383). This has been quoted by various authors, the latest being 

 Mathews in his ' Birds of Australia' (1914), and so far as I know has never 

 been corrected. Yarrell described and figured the coracoids in two indi- 



