460 Anatidcv. 



Fyall Gas, or ' Mountain Goose ' of the Swedes, as Professor New- 

 ton has shown in an article on Anas erythropus* the latter 

 being the specific name given by Fleming and others of the older 

 ornithologists, and which calls attention to its orange-coloured 

 legs. It is Blassen Gans, ' the Pale Goose,' in German ; and in 

 Italy, Oca Lombardella. Mr. Harting, to whom we have already 

 been much indebted for accurately pointing out the distinguish- 

 ing marks by which closely allied species may be identified, has 

 drawn up" the following useful table in regard to the commoner 

 species of gray geeset : 



Gray Lag Goose : till, flesh-colour ; nail, white ; legs, flesh colour. 

 Bean Goose : orange ; black ; orange. 



White-fronted Goose : pink ; white ; orange. 



Pink-footed Goose : pink ; black ; pink tinged with 



vermilion. 



[Of the species just mentioned, the ' Pink- footed Goose' (Anser 

 brachyrhyncus), I regret that I have no example to record, and 

 so no proof of its occurrence in Wiltshire ; but that it must very 

 often visit us is almost certain, for not only does it so much 

 resemble the Bean Goose (the most abundant now of all our wild 

 geese) as to be frequently mistaken for it, though somewhat 

 smaller in size, but in some districts of England it is declared to 

 be even more common than that species. It is to be hoped, 

 therefore, that Wiltshire sportsmen will keep a sharp look-out on 

 the specimens which fall to their gun, and announce the dis- 

 covery of a Wiltshire killed A. brachyrhyncus, or the 'Short- 

 beaked Goose/ whose bill, scarcely more than an inch and 

 a half in length, offers a good mark of distinction.] 



178. BRENT GOOSE (Anser torquatus). 



This little black species is the most numerous of all the Geese 

 on our coasts, but is so essentially marine in its habits the most 

 oceanic (says Mr. Cordeaux) of all the Geese that it is by no 

 means common in the interior of the country. Occasionally, 



Ibis for 18GO, pp. 404-406. f < Birds of Middlesex,' p. 216. 



