76 INDIAN DUCKS. 



(13) ANSER BRACHYRHYNCHUS. 

 THE PIJnK-FOOTEI) GOOSE. 



Anser brachyrhynchus, Hume, Sir. Feath. viii, p. 114; Hume, Cat. no. 94f); 



Jlume c^- JJ<tr. G(tme-B. iii, p. 71 ; McLeod, Str. Feath. x, p. 108 ; 



Salvadori, Cat. F>. M. xxvii, p. lOo ; Blanford, Faaaa B. I. iv, p. 418; 



Oaten, Game-B. ii, p. (!."). 

 Melanonyx brachyrhynchus, Alitlarakii, Geese, p. 87. 



Adult male. — " AVbole head and neck brown with chocolate or coffee tinge, 

 and often with a small number of white plumules at the base of the bill. 

 Upper part of the back, between scapulae, brown with rufous tinge. Lower part 

 of back and scapulars light brown, the feathers becoming towards tips rufous 

 and edged with light rufous or light grey. Rump slate-brown ; upper and lower 

 tail-coverts pure white. Tail blackish brown, with white edgings and tips to the 

 feathers. Upper wing-coverts slaty ashen-gre}^ and edged (more or less widely) 

 with light rufous. Tips of median and greater wing-coverts very pale grey- 

 rufous. Outer primaries grey, with black tips ; inner primaries and secondaries 

 uniformly brown-black, latter with narrow whitish margins ; tertiaries dark 

 brown with wider whitish edgings. "Whole breast rufous-brown, with pale 

 edgings to feathers, producing a barred wavy effect. Flanks rufous-brown, each 

 feather at tip passing gradually into rufous, and fringed with lighter, sometimes 

 greyish, margins. 



" Remaining part of under surface of bod}' dingy white, upper part of l)elly 

 with darker grey transverse striping." {Alpheralcij .) 



Legs and feet deep rosy-red, claws black ; irides brown. Bill a beautiful 

 carmine-pink, nail black ; the base of the bill is also black to a greater or less 

 extent ; in young birds the pink exists only as a nari'ow band behind the nail, 

 in old birds it extends back to the nostrils, along the culnieu only as far as tlie upper 

 edge of the nares, and on the lower edge, sometimes, as far back as the extreme 

 base of the bill. 



The measurements of a very fine male in my possession were : — Length 

 27 inches, wing IG-S, tardus 2-44, tail 4*8, bill at point 1-0, and from gape 1'65. 



" Wing 15-7 inches, culmen 1-73 to 1-S8, depth of bill at base 0-22, tarsus 2-20, 

 AVeight 6A to 7i lbs." {AlpUrahj.) 



Salvadori (loc. cii.) says rooardino- the distribution of this goose : 

 " Spitzbergen, where it nests, and probably also Franz Joseph Land ; 

 during the migration and in winter in N.AV. Europe ; occasionally it 

 .strays to Germany, Belgium, and France ; its alleged occurrence in 



