70 INDIAN DrCKS. 



(11) ANSER ALBIFRONS. 

 THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Anser albifrons, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 780; Hume, Str. Feath. viii, p. 11-1 ; Ilumc, 

 Cat. no. !M7 ; Hume <f" Mar. Game-B. iii, p. 73, pi. 10; Salvadori, 

 Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 92; Blanford, Fauna B. I. iv, {). 417; Oates, 

 Game-B. ii, p. 91 ; Alpheralif, Geese, p. 42. 



Anser erythropus, Hume, Str. Feath. i, p. 259. 



Descrijition. Adult male. — "Eorebead and feathers at the base of the upper 

 mandible white ; head, neck, back, rump, and wings brownish ash-colour ; upper 

 tail-coverts white ; breast and belly pale bro\\'nish-\\hite, with patches and broad 

 bars of black ; sides and flanks ash-brown, with paler edgings, and with a white 

 band on the upper margin ; vent and under tail-coverts white ; upper wing-coverts 

 greyish-brown with paler edgings, the greater ones edged with white, forming a 

 conspicuous band ; wing-primaries bluish-black ; secondaries black : tail-feathers 

 dark grey, tipped with white : bill orange-yellow, the nail white ; irides dark 

 brown ; legs, toes, and membranes orange, claws whitish horn-colour. Total length 

 27 inches, wing 16, tail 6, culmenl'9, tarsus 2*5. " (Salvadori.) Jerdon gives the 

 wing as 17 inches : on the other hand, Hume gives it as 15 to ]5'75 inches. 



"Wing 14-75 to 17 inches, culmen 157 to 2-20, tarsus 2*25 to 3"20" 

 (Alpheralu/). 



Of the soft parts, Hume gives the colours as follo\\s : — Legs and feet bright 

 orange ; nails pinky or greyish-white ; bill pale, livid fleshy ; nail whitish or pale 

 yellow ish-white ; irides pale brown. 



" Bill dull flesh-colour, to a more or less rosy-red : often a very beautiful rosy 

 tint: after death it rapidly turns into orange " (Kaumann). " Weight : maximum 

 6 lbs., minimum 4 lbs., average 5^ lbs.'" (Fopham). 



Female only differs from the male in being rather smaller, but 1 can find no 

 measurements of this goose sexed as females ; but Alpheraky remarks : " I there- 

 fore quote the dimensions of the White-fronted Goose, without stating the sex ; 

 this being the less to be regretted, seeing that it did not seem possible to give 

 the limits for the maximum measurements of the female, on account of the 

 inadequate material." 



Young. — " Bird of the year is more uniform in colour and rather darker ; the 

 feathers at the base of the upper mandible are rather deeper brown than those of 

 the rest of the head ; the nail and point of the beak light brown ; the pale brown 

 feathers of the breast are uniform in colour, without any dark patches or bars." 

 (Salvadori.) 



As the bird grows older, the white band on the forehead appears and grows 

 wider and wider, and, from what can be gathered from present records, seems to 

 get wider eventually in the adult male than in tlie female, though. Salvadori notes 



