THE SPECIES OF BEAN-GEESE. 47 



A most interesting account of this Goose has been written by 

 Stejneger (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 29, p. 141, pi. vii, fig. 1, 

 1885) accompanied by a figure of the bill which fixes the species at once 

 without any doubt. In fact his figure and the one drawn for this paper 

 might have been taken from the same specimen, so similar are they. 



Stejneger obtained three of these Geese on Bering Island, off' the 

 coast of Kamtchatka. The first, a male shot on the 10th May, had the 

 wing 495 mm. (19'48 inches) in length. The iris was dark brown. 

 The bill was brownish black with a clear yellow band across. The feet 

 were orange with the webs more yellow and the nails were black. 

 There was no trace of white on the feathers bordering the bill. 



The second bird was a female, shot on the same date as the above 

 male. The wing measured 46o mm. (18*22 inches) in length. The 

 iris was dark brown. The bill was of much the same colour as that of 

 the above male, the yellow, however, being of a paler shade and not 

 extending behind the nostrils. The feet were as in the above male. 

 The feathering along the base of the bill exhibited faint traces of white 

 semi-lune?, these being strongly tinged with rusty. 



The third example was shot on the 22nd May and appears to have 

 been a female. The wing measured 435 mm. (17*12 inches). 



None of the above birds apparently had a white chin as in ray 

 type specimen. 



So far as we know therefore this species winters in Japan and is 

 found in summer in the islands off Kamtchatka. 



Mr. Alpheraky does not admit this species. It seems doubtful, how- 

 ever, whether he has ever seen a specimen of the Large Japanese 

 Bean-Goose, He speaks of a skin of a Bean-Goose from Manchuria as 

 a specimen of .1. mentalis, but I entertain doubts of this. Then he has 

 a copy of Stejneger's paper quoted above, and a drawing of the goose 

 which is in the British Museum and served me as the type of J. mentalis. 

 Equipped with these materials which Mr. Alphe'raky terms " three 

 specimens," he proceeds to show that J. mentalis is only a large form 

 of A. serrirostris. 



Mr. Alpheraky is entitled to hold this opinion, but he is not entitled 

 to present his readers with my original description of this Goose in a 

 mutilated form. He quotes my description, but suppresses the only 

 portion of it to which I attach particular importance, viz., the measure- 

 ment of the wing and the dimensions of the bill. These important 



