TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 17 
The Museum, of which M. Alf. Dubois is curator, contains 
22,500 specimens. The Macqueen’s Bustard (killed in the 
vicinity in 1845,) has a beautiful ruff, equal I think to the 
finest Houbaras which I obtained in Algeria. It appears 
that two others were killed with it. The Great Auk seemed 
(for it was getting dark when I got round to it,) to bea 
well-stuffed specimen, in summer plumage of course. It 
was bought of Frank, through whose hands several have 
passed, twenty years ago, when they were not considered to 
be extinct, for 150 francs in the skin. As far as I remem- 
ber, all the Great Auks which I examined had the ribs on 
the bill white. (cf. Zoologist, 1642). i 
I must now mention a Goose in the Zoological Gardens 
which had pink legs, and yet from the length of its bill was 
an undoubted Bean Goose. Curious as this is, it is not 
more so than the converse which has happened in Somerset- 
shire to Mr. Cecil Smith. That naturalist has recorded 
(Zoologist, 3412, 3627, 4333,) Pink-footed Geese of his own 
breeding with yellow legs, but as they were that colour in 
early youth, it is not to be taken as any corroboration of 
Strickland’s exploded notion that the Pink-footed Goose 
was the young of the Bean. Strickland’s “Bean Goose” 
was Bartlett’s true Pink-footed Goose. Both these writers 
agreed that the Geese with black nails to their beaks were 
divisible into two species, but they differed about the names 
which should be applied to them. Now that the distinc- 
tions are properly understood, it appears clear that the 
Pink-footed is much the commoner, and that many even of 
the more recent records of “Bean Geese” must be taken as 
referring to it. I happened last June to see living examples 
of both in an enclosure together, and there is no tangible 
difference in plumage. Practically the best marks to seize 
on are those originally published, viz., the short bill, smaller 
stature, and pink legs of the Pink-footed Goose, and also 
the middle of the beak pink, as opposed to the yellow 
Cc 
