IS71.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. 417 



feathers at the base of the bill, of a pale colour with blotches of 

 black on the underparts, and with very little grey on the wing- 

 coverts and rump. The size of the bill varies greatly in English 

 specimens ; but the pale colour, comparative absence of grey, and 

 white frontal edging to the bill seem characteristic of the Eastern 

 race, and I think it as well to distinguish it as a variety. 



627. Anser segetxjm, var. serrirostris. 



Anser segetum, Ibis, 1860, p. 67, 1861, p. 344, 1862, p. 253, 

 1867, p. 392 ; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 323. 



Arise?- serrirostris, Gould, MS. 



A Bean-Goose comes down in immense swarms every cold weather 

 to the marshes, at the river's mouth, near Amoy. They are of 

 large size, and peculiar in having huge bills approximating that of 

 A. grandis. I have handled several, and they were all so distin- 

 guishable. I have brought home a male and compared it with a 

 home-shot bird kindly lent me by Mr. Tristram. The Chinese bird 

 has a paler cheek and throat, a much lighter and yellowish-brown 

 neck, narrower white edges and tips to the tail-feathers, and longer 

 tarsi ; but in other respects it is similar. The British Museum has 

 two specimens of this Goose from Trans-Baikal, and Mr. Gould a 

 specimen from Shanghai. Mr. Gould's specimen is labelled A. ser- 

 rirostris, a name he intended to publish in 1862. On the Wanchow 

 river all the Geese shot by our party on the 10th of February were 

 of this race. 



628. Anas boschas, L. ; Ibis, 1861, p. 344, 1862, p. 254. 

 A winter Duck in South China. 



629. Anas zonorhyncha, Swinh. Ibis, 1866, p. 394 ; P. Z. S. 

 1870, p. 427. 



Anas poecilorhyncha, Temm. & Schl. Faun. Jap. pi. lxxxii. 



Throughout China. I believe it breeds in many parts, north and 

 south. It is absurd, with our present experience, to imagine this 

 bird a cross between A. boschas and A. pcecilorhyncha of India. It 

 is a very common Duck at Shanghai, and I have seen many speci- 

 mens. A. pcecilorhyncha does not occur with us ; and can we sup- 

 pose that India would originate a bird to disperse throughout more 

 Eastern Asia, and not reserve any of the hybrids for herself ? Our 

 bird (male) has a narrower yellow nib to the bill, and no basal 

 yellow. It has a distinct white supercilium ; throat unspeckled 

 white ; alar speculum deep blue, slightly tinged with green ; lesser 

 coverts, overlapping the speculum, brown, tipped with black with no 

 white ; tertials only slightly margined with white ; rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail deep blackish brown, without any bronze reflec- 

 tions ; crown, streak through the eye, and short moustache-streak 

 deep brown ; cheeks and neck brownish white, with brown specks ; 

 breast light yellowish brown, with deep-brown spots ; rest of under- 

 parts deep brown, becoming nearly black on the under tail-coverts ; 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1871, No. XXVII. 



