498 On Cliloephaga inornata King. [Tbis, 



In the male C. magellanica the white of the under side 

 extends itself at each successive moult^ whilst the male 

 C. dispar remains banded until extreme old age. 



My conclusion is that the type-specimen of King being a 

 young male of C. magellanica and not of C. dispar, the 

 black-banded Goose ought to be again named C. dispar, 

 whilst the name of inornata King ought to be put under 

 the synonyms of C. magellanica. I show a photo of a 

 specimen of a male C. dispar in its first plumage and one 

 of a male C. magellanica also in its first plumage, but 

 slightly younger, so that the grey down still adheres to the 

 neck- and head-feathers. Both birds were bred by me and 

 are now in the Leiden Museum. 



I also examined Des Murs's descriptions o^ Bernicla magel- 

 lanica and B. inornata in Claudio Gay's 'Historia de Ciiile' 

 (fauna) on page 443. The description given there of 

 Bernicla magellanica male and female agrees Avith what 

 these birds look like ; but the description of what he calls 

 Bernicla inornata in the two sexes is applicable^ as regards 

 tlie male, to a male of C magellanica with more heavily 

 marked Hanks than the bird he calls B. magellanica, pro- 

 bably a bird after the first moult. (In this description 

 he does nut mention the grey wing-coverts on which the 

 black and white markings of the upper side are.) It cer- 

 tainly is not a male of C. dispar, as he says that it is 

 rvhite with black markings on the flanks, C. dispar having 

 no white under side but the whole of the under side banded. 

 The bird which he describes as a female is certainly a 

 specimen of C. poliocephala. He describes the head and 

 neck as grey, the belly as white, and on the whole gives a 

 rather accurate description of C. poliocephala. Des Murs 

 in Gay's ' Historia de Chile' has, therefore, described two 

 species (C. magellanica Gmel. 1788, and C. poliocephala) as 

 male and female under the name of inornata. 



The name of inornata would therefore, I believ^e, have to 

 stand for C. poliocephala if he had not applied this name 

 to two species of birds, which makes it desirable to drop 

 it entirely and use that of C. poliocephala Gr. 1844, as is 

 usually done. 



