84 INDIAN UL'CKS. 



(16) ANSER INDICUS. 

 THE BAE-HEADED GOOSE. 



Anser indicus, JerJon, B. I. iii, p. 782 ; Hume, Nests 4' Efj(/s, p. G36 ; 



Butler, Sir. FeafJi. iv, pp. 27, 40, & 99 ; id. ibid, vi, p. 260 ; Adams, ibid. 



p. 401 ; ffiiine, ibid, vii, p. 491 : Huuie <j- Mar. Gome-B. iii, p. 81 ; Hnine, 



Kesfs 4' E'JV^ (Oates ed.), iii, p. 279 ; Gates, Game-B. u, p. 57; Salvadori, 



Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 105. 

 Eulabeia indicus, BalJ, Str. Feath. iii, p. 436. 

 Eulabeia indica, AJpMrali/, Geese, p. 133. 



Adult. — " Head white, \\ itli two horse-shoe blackish bars on the occiput and 

 nape ; hind-neck brown-black : a, longitudinal white band on the sides of the 

 neck ; upper plumage very pale ashy, the feathers edged with whitish and 

 tinged with brown on the mantle and scapulars ; sides of the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts whitish ; throat white, fore-neck brownish ashy, passing gradually 

 into cinereous on the breast, whitish on the abdomen ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts white ; feathers of the flanks brown, rufous towards the tips with pale 

 edgings ; quills grey, dusky towards the tips, and gradually becoming darker 

 towards the secondaries; tertials brownish-grey : tail grey, white-tipped. 



" Total length 27 inches, wing 17, tail 6, bill 2, tarsus 2-75." (Salvador!.) 

 " Length 27*25 to 33-5 inches, expanse 50 to 60, wing 16-0 to 19*0, tail 

 from vent 5-0 to 7*0, tarsus 2-5 to 3-3, bill from gape 1-8 to 2-3. Weight 

 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. 14 ozs." (Hume.) 



"The legs and feet are light orange, sometimes paler, occasionally onlv 

 yellow ; claws horny black ; the irides deep brown ; the bill orange-yellow to 

 orange, rarely only pale lemon-yellow, often paler or greenish towards the 

 nostril; the nail black or blackish." (Hume.) 



Young. — " Forehead brownish-white, a little tinged with rusty ; a dusky line 

 through the lores to the eye ; whole crown, occiput, and nape sooty or dusky 

 black ; no trace of either the two distinct black head-bars or the conspicuous 

 white neck-streaks ; back of neck wood-brown, sides and front of the lower 

 part of the neck pale dusky greyish, mottled with whitish ; most of the feathers 

 of the breast and abdomen have a pale rusty tinge towards the tips ; the 

 conspicuous dark banding of the flanks of the adults is almost entirely wanting ; 

 tail somewhat browner than in the adult." (Salvadori.) 



Young in down. — " Pale yellowish, top of the head and upper parts pale 

 brown." (Salvadori.) 



Roughly s[)eakiug, the habitat of this goose is India and Northern 



