OBEY- LAG GOOSE. 121 



greyish brown and barred across, the feathers deeply edged 

 with a paler shade; on the lower part light bluish grey. 



The wings have the second quill feather the longest; they 

 reach, when closed, not quite to the end of the tail; there 

 is a hard protuberance at the inner end of the wing. Greater 

 wing coverts, greyish brown; lesser wing coverts, darker 

 leaden greyish brown both bordered with whitish; of the 

 primaries, the three outer ones are pale grey, the others dark 

 leaden grey; the shafts of all are white, the base greyish 

 white, the ends more or less black; tertiaries, leaden grey, 

 broadly margined with a lighter shade; greater and lesser 

 under wing coverts, white. Tail, leaden grey, the tip white, 

 the outer feathers almost entirely white; upper and under 

 tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, pale greyish yellowish 

 red; claws, black. 



The female is smaller than the male, and her plumage is 

 less distinctly marked. Length, two feet six inches. 



The young are described as being darker than the old 

 birds. 



Pied varieties have occurred one with the wing perfectly 

 white; another with white feathers along the breast and wing 

 coverts. In the specimen already alluded to as having been 

 shot near Yarmouth, the lower part of the breast is described 

 by Mr. Fisher, as having had, in some degree, the black 

 markings, a feature in the plumage of the White-fronted 

 Goose. 



