Chapter II. 



GEESE. 



With the "Spring Running" the sportsman in China 

 ought for a little while to lay aside his gun. When you come 

 to think of it he may enjoy shooting through a very large 

 part of the year. But with the incoming of February no 

 more field shooting should be indulged in, for pheasants not 

 infrequently begin nesting during that month. A little later 

 the spring snipe will have come, and then Nos. 8 and 9 may 

 come into play once more. Meanwhile there is a breathing 

 space to look up the life history of the migrants one sees. 

 There are the geese, for instance. (Order, Anseres: Family, 

 Anatidae: Species, various.) There is a little difficulty some- 

 times in remembering which is which. But a trick in 

 mnemonics will fix the colours indelibly, the two black or 

 dark coloured species both begin with B — the brent and 

 bernicle geese. All the rest are grey. It was "the grey 

 goose wing" which feathered all the arrows of Robin Hood 

 andhasleftindeliblemarks on European history. The brents 

 and bernicles, too, are sea rather than land birds as the 

 others are. Another distinction is to be found in the shield, 

 or "nail" as it is called, which protects the tip of the upper 

 mandible. This is light coloured in all the grey geese, I 

 believe, except the bean and the swan-goose which have it 

 black. 



For the purpose of identification the following condens- 

 ed description will suffice. It includes all the geese com- 

 monly found in these parts. 



„ Anser Albifrons. The white-fronted goose. Nail 

 white. Forehead white, hence name. Beak orange. Black 

 bars across the belly. Wings tinged with green. Length 

 27 in. Not common in this neighbourhood. 



Anser Erythropus. The lesser whitefronted goose. 

 Nail white. Appearance much as above. Length 24 in. 

 Very numerous. 



Anser Segetum. The bean goose. "Segetum" bears 

 evidence to the destructive efforts of this bird in the corn- 

 fields. (Lat. seges, a corn-field.) Nail black. Legs, feet, 

 and middle of beak, orange. Length, 35 in. Extremely 

 common in Delta. Breeds far north. 



