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



bilJ. In summer the head and neck, as exhibited in Badde's specimen, 

 are of a beautiful golden fulvous colour, and a slight trace of this tint is 

 present on the head of Captain Whitehead's example. 



I find that Mr. Alpheraky has bestowed a new name on this Goose 

 on the ground that we do not know to which species of Bean-Goose 

 Severtzoff's name of A. middendorffi applies. I have not the least 

 doubt in my own mind that Severtzoff meant to apply the name to the 

 Goose which Middendorff figured so well, and for my part I shall con- 

 tinue to use Severtzoff's designation for this Bean-Goose. 

 6. Anser mentalis, Oates (fig. 6). 

 The Japanese Bean-Goose. 



It seems probable that there are two species of Bean-Goose in Japan. 

 Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer (Ibis, 1878, p. 212) say: — "There are 

 two forms, a large and small, possibly separable." Again, Blakiston, 

 writing of the Bean-Goose in Japan (Trans. As. Soc. Jap., p. 94, 1882), 

 says : — " This Goose seems pretty generally distributed throughout 

 Japan. Specimens in all the museums. There seem to be two forms, 

 a large and small, possibly separable." 



In the British Museum there are two specimens of this species, one 

 procured by Pryer at Yokohama, another procured by Blakiston at 

 Hakodadi in October, sexed as a male. Both these birds are obviously 

 of the larger form. The smaller form has not come under my notice. 



The Japanese Bean-Goose may be known by its large size and thick, 

 massive bill with a strong, curved lower mandible. 



The Yokohama bird, the type of A. mentalis, has the bill 2'85 inches 

 in length and the wing 19"5 inches. Its plumage is of the ordinary 

 bean -goose colour, but its chin is white. The orange of the bill extends 

 in a broad band under the nostril. 



The Hakodadi bird is smaller. It is a male, but probably a young 

 one, for the reason that the orange of the bill does not extend back but 

 is confined to a ring behind the nail. The bill of this bird measures , 

 2*7 inches in length and the wing 18"7 inches. 



The meaning of a white chin in some specimens of Bean-Geese is not 

 apparent at present, but may be discovered when some one takes the 

 trouble' to collect these birds in large numbers, I have already stated 

 that two specimens of A. arvensis in the British Museum have their 

 chins white. It is not a character of species, but is probably assumed 

 at a certain age only, or at a certain season. 



