Fam. ANATID^. 



Bill straight from the gape to the tip, which is suddenly bent down in the form of a pointed 

 nail, of nearly equal width throughout ; under mandible shorter than the upper, and fitting 

 inside the lamellate edges of the latter. Wings pointed, furnished with a spur in some. Tail 

 short, varying in the number of feathers. Legs short ; tibia feathered nearly to the knee. 

 Tarsus scutellate in front. Feet fully webbed ; hind toe in some furnished with a membrane. 



Of natatorial habit. Sternum with a deep oval-ended notch in each half of the posterior 

 margin. 



Sulofam. ANSERINE. 



Bill high at the base, exceeding its width there ; culmen sloping down to the tip, not 

 narrower at the base than at the tip. Legs longer, and placed further forward than in the next 

 subfamily ; feathered nearly to the knee in most genera. 



Head usually small ; neck long in most. 



Genus SARCIDIORNIS *. 



Bill short ; base of the culmen flat, the ridge between the nostrils narrow ; nostrils rounded, 

 pervious, placed in a depressed membrane ; nail large and prominent ; lamellae in both mandibles 

 wide apart and shallow. Wings pointed, 1st and 2nd quills subequal and longest, furnished with 

 a prominent tubercle beyond the point. Tail of 12 feathers, rather long, rounded. Tarsus shorter 

 than the middle toe, with stout anterior scutes. 



Bill in the male with a high stiff comb. 



SAKCIDIORNIS MELANONOTUS. 



(THE INDIAN COMB-GOOSE.) 



Anser melanonotiis, Forst. Ind. Zool. p. 21, pi. 11 (1781). 



Sarcidiornis melanotics (Penn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 302 (1849). 



Sarkidiomis melanonotus (Penn.), Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268; Jerdon, 



* I place this bird and the following species among the Geese, as I cannot consider them as belonging to the true 

 Ducks (Anatinse). In so doing I follow Jerdon, who, however, places the first in a separate subfamily, Plectropterinse 

 (" Spurred Geese ")• The Black-backed Geese (Sarcidiornis), examples of which may be seen at the Zoological Gardens, 

 are thorough Geese in their structure, deportment, and walk, not possessing the smallest resemblance to the true Ducks. 



