222 AVES NATATORE8. [ANSER. 



ORDER V. NATATORES. 



GEN. 87. ANSER, Briss. 

 (1. ANSER, Steph.) 



222. A. ferus, Steph. (Wild Goose.) Bill strong and 

 elevated ; orange, the nail whitish : legs flesh-colour : wings 

 not reaching to the extremity of the tail. 



Anas Anser ferus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 818. Gray-Lag 

 Goose, Mont. Orn. Diet, fy Supp. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 282. 

 Gray-Lag Wild Goose, Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 261. pi. 41. 



DIMENS. Entire length two feet ten inches. 



DESCRIPT. Head and neck clove-brown, tinged with gray, the fea- 

 thers on this last part loose and fan-owed : back, scapulars, greater and 

 middle wing-coverts, clove-brown, the feathers deeply edged with grayish 

 white ; lesser wing-coverts, and base of the primary quills, bluish gray : 

 breast and belly grayish-white, undulated with bars of a deeper tint : 

 rump, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, pure white: tail deep clove- 

 brown; the middle feathers edged with white; the outer one on each 

 side almost wholly white : bill large and elevated; orange-red, the nail 

 whitish: irides deep brown: legs flesh-colour. (Egg.) Ivory white: 

 smooth and shining : long. diam. three inches one line ; trans, diam. two 

 inches one line. 



Said to have been formerly very plentiful in this country; and resi- 

 dent in the fens of Lincolnshire all the year. Now only met with in 

 small flocks during the winter months, and that not very frequently. 

 Breeds in marshes, and lays from five to ten eggs. Food, aquatic vege- 

 tables, and grain of all kinds. Obs. The Domestic Goose is usually con- 

 sidered as having been derived from this species, but such a circum- 

 stance is rendered highly improbable from the well known fact that 

 the Common Gander after attaining a certain age is invariably white. 

 Montagu also observes* that a specimen of the Anser ferus, which 

 was shot in the wing by a farmer in Wiltshire, and kept alive many 

 years, would never associate with the tame geese. In fact the origin 

 of these last is unknown. 



223. A Segetum, Steph. (Bean Goose.) Bill long, 

 and somewhat depressed ; orange, the base and nail black : 

 legs orange : wings extending beyond the extremity of the 

 tail. 



Anas Segetum, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 820. Bean Goose, 

 Mont. Orn. Diet. $ Supp. Selb. Illust. vol. 11. p. 263. pi. 42. 



DIMENS. Entire length two feet six inches : length of the tarsus three 

 inches three lines ; from the carpus to the end of the wing eighteen 

 inches six lines. 



* Orn. Diet. vol. i. Art. Goose-Gray-Lag. 



