Genus ANSER or TYPICAL GEESE. 



Type ANSER CINEREUS. 



Anser of Bechstein (1803). — As Bechstein was the first 

 naturalist properly to define the Geese, he has far more claim to 

 the genus than Brisson, whose Anser is a confused and be- 

 wildered mass of distantly related species. The birds comprising 

 the present genus are characterised by having the lores feathered 

 and the tarsus reticulated. The wings are long and ample, but 

 not acutely pointed ; the tail is short and rounded, and said to 

 contain sixteen feathers. The bill is nearly as long as the head, 

 and has a strongly defined unguis at the tip ; the inner edge of 

 the mandibles is crooked and the lamellae are conspicuous ; 

 nostrils lateral. Neck much shorter than in Cygnus. Three toes 

 in front webbed, one behind small and elevated. 



This genus is composed of about twenty species which are 

 distributed throughout the colder and temperate regions of the 

 world ; more cosmopolitan in winter than in summer. Six 

 species and subspecies are British, but only one of these breeds 

 within our islands. 



The typical Geese are dwellers on moors and marshes and 

 more or less cultivated plains, but in winter they become more 

 maritime. They are birds of rapid if somewhat laboured flight, 

 swim well, and walk with equal facility. Their notes are loud 

 and unmusical. They subsist chiefly on vegetable substances. 

 They make bulky nests upon the ground, and their eggs are 

 numerous and creamy white in colour. They are monogamous, 

 and probably pair for life, the male assisting the female in family 

 duties. They are gregarious in winter, and more or less social 

 even in the breeding season. Their flesh is palatable. 



