42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



that Mr. Alpheraky has never seen a specimen of either species, and to 

 act in the manner he has done is in direct opposition to the sensible 

 remark he makes in his preface, that '• J cannot regard the present 

 work otherwise than as preparatory to future investigation." 



Altogether I do not see my way to incorporate Mr. Alphe'raky's 

 conclusions regarding the Bean- Geese with my own brief remarks on 

 these birds, and I have thought it preferable to adhere to my resolution 

 to treat these birds entirely from the point of view I have kept before 

 rue, namely, to deal only with the British Museum specimens and to 

 avoid speculation and conjecture. 



1. Anser arvensis, Brehm (fig. 1). 

 The Common Bean-Goose. 

 This Bean-Goose is a winter visitor to many parts of Great Britain. 

 The British Museum contains numerous specimens shot in Holland and 

 a single skin obtained by Seebohm on the Petchora river. It appears 

 to be spread in winter over a considerable portion of Northern and 

 Central Europe and probably Western Asia, breeding in the extreme 

 North of Europe. 



The length of the bill in a large series of this goose varies from 2 to 

 2*45 inches, but Mr. Frohawk has figured a larger bill, probably that 

 of a very old gander. The pale parts of the bill are of an orange- 

 yellow colour. At first, probably for two or three years, this colour 

 is confined to a ring or zone behind the nail as shewn in the figure of 

 the bill of A. segetum (fig. 2). It then increases in extent, spreading 

 out under the nostrils, and then upwards, until nearly the whole bill is 

 yellow, the only parts remaining black being a band on the basal half 

 of the culmen and small lines and patches elsewhere, as in fig. 1. 



This is one of the larger Bean-Geese, the wing reaching a length of 

 19 inches. The feet in life are orange-yellow. 



Two of the specimens in the British Museum, sexed as females, 

 have the chin white as in my type of A. mentalis from Japan. 



Mr. Alpheraky would have us call this species the Yellow-billed 

 Bean-Goose, but I do not think that many persons will care to follow 

 him in this. 



2. Anser segetum, Gmelin (fig. 2). 

 The European Bean-Goose. 

 This species is so rare in collections that I have never seen a specimen, 

 and I have had to trust to Mr. Frohawk for the drawing of the bill 



