GEESE: COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL 139 



Soon, however, it was ascertained that before this 

 name was given, the bird had a short time previously 

 been identified as a separate species by a French 

 naturalist (M. Baillon) and by him had been named 

 Brachyrhynchus. Locally, we find no distinction 

 drawn in our own day between the two birds, the 

 rustics calling all black-beaned geese bean geese. Of 

 course, the resemblance between the bean goose and 

 the pink-footed goose is great. Their plumage is 

 practically identical, and one can well understand 

 any non-naturalist failing to notice the distinguishing 

 features, or if he noticed them as they must very 

 frequently have been noticed before the time of 

 Messrs. Baillon and Bartlett assuming that the 

 pink-footed goose was the female of the bean, or 

 perhaps an immature bird ; but still it must be re- 

 cognised that the fact that no earlier ornithologists 

 noticed the separateness of the species is, as I have 

 said, a curious one. 



General opinion credits the greylag with the dis- 

 tinction of being the ancestor of our tame geese, 

 though not a few good naturalists claim that the 

 honour probably belongs to the white-fronted bird. 

 The domestic goose, in general appearance and 

 characteristics, more nearly resembles the greylag 

 than any other wild goose ; but then, on the other 



