ANSER. 279 



Order ANSERES*. 



Family ANATID^. 

 Subfamily ANSERINE. 



Anser cinereus, Meyer. The Grey Lag Goose. 



Anser cinereus, Meyer, Jerd. B. Lid. ii, p. 779 ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. $ E. no. 945. 



As far as I know, this species does not in its wild state lay 

 anywhere within our limits. I saw thousands of the Indian Bar- 

 headed Goose, young and old, at various lakes in Thibet, but I 

 cannot remember seeing any Grey Goose. 



The only Indian eggs of this species that I have seen were 

 laid in captivity, early in May 1869, by the female of a pair of 

 pinioned wild birds in the possession of Ruttun Singh, of Jugger- 

 nathpoor, Ziilah Etawah. The previous year the same bird had 

 laid and hatched a single egg, and had succeeded in rearing the 

 young one until it was destroyed by a snake when about three 

 months old. 



The two eggs laid in 1869 are moderately long ovals, the 

 broadest portion in the centre, and the two ends sloping away 

 thence pretty equally. The shell is glossless, and of a compact, 

 but not a very fine texture. The eggs are spotless white, with a 

 faint creamy or ivory tinge, and when held up against the light 

 seem pale pinkish yellow. They measured 3*4 and 3'55 by 2*25 

 and 2-45. 



Anser indicus (Lath.) Tlie Barred-headed Goose. 



Anser indicus (Gm.}, Jerd. B. Ind. \\, p. 782 5 Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. 8? E. no. 949. 



The Barred-headed Goose breeds within our limits only in some 

 of the Thibetan lakes, like the Tso-mourari, Tso-khar, and others 

 which lie in Ladak, at elevations of 12,000 to 14,000 feet, east and 

 north-east of Spiti. 



* Numerous notes on the Game Birds which would, in the ordinary course, 

 have found their way into this edition, were published by Mr. Hume in the 

 ' Game Birds of India.' I do not propose to republisk these notes, as the ' Game 

 Birds' is, or ought to be, in the library of every Indian Ornithologist. I 

 have, however, given a short summary of the additional matter in order to 

 render the account of each species in this edition tolerably complete. ED. 



