Emperor-Goose 



21 



Faune Orn. Sib. or., p. 1112 (1893); Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii. p. 109 (1895); Menzbier, 

 in Slyunin's " Okhotsko-Kamchat. Krai," p. 347 (1900) (Jmperatorski gus)\ Buturlin, Dikie Gusi Ross. I. 

 (" Psov. i Ruzh. Okh.," 1901); id., separ, p. 10. 



Chen canagica, Newton, Encyclop. Brit, 9th ed., x. p. 778 (1879) ; id., "Diet, of Birds," p. 374 (1893). 



Anser (Philacte) canagicus, Palmen, Bidr. Sibirisk Ishafsk. Fogelf. Vega Exp., p. 421. 



Adult Birds of Both Sexes 



Head and whole hind-neck white, often with rusty (or yellow or amber-yellow) tinge, 

 deepest on anterior part of head. Throat, fore-neck, and sides of neck brownish black. 

 Prevailing colour of plumage of body bluish cinereous with black sub -terminal crescent- 

 shaped bars, bordered with white. These black crescent-shaped bars are sharply defined on 

 upper surface of body, somewhat fainter on breast and flanks, but almost totally absent on 

 the abdomen. Tail pure white on terminal half, and greyish or slaty greyish basally. 

 Lesser upper wing-coverts, primary coverts, and primaries dark slate. Greater wing-coverts 

 slaty grey, bordered with white. Secondaries dark slate with white borders. Lining of 

 wings and axillaries brown-grey. Bill and other naked parts, according to Nelson, — " lower 

 mandible dark horn-colour, with a white spot on each side of branching rami ; membrane 

 about nares livid blue, rest of upper mandible pale purplish, with a fleshy-white wash ; edge 

 of nail dark horn-colour, rest of nail horn-white ; iris hazel ; legs and feet bright orange- 

 yellow." 



Immature Birds 



Dark (black-brown) featherlets mingled in white of head. 



Young Birds of the Year 



All feathers of body far narrower than in adults, those of upper surface pointed. 

 Head and neck slate-grey, former speckled with white, especially on crown. Transverse 

 mottlings on feathers less marked than in adults. Bill and feet dark. 



Young Birds of Second Year 



Number of white featherlets on hind-neck considerable, giving it a very finely speckled 

 appearance. 



Apparently, in the young in down, the head and the whole of the neck should be 

 dark slate, but this statement, it seems, is only an hypothesis and is not based on facts. 



Total length of adult birds 

 Wing about . 

 Culmen .... 

 Tarsus .... 

 Middle digit without claw 



650-700 mm. ( = 25.5-27.5 in.). 

 350-400 mm. ( = 14-15.7 in.). 

 35-49 mm. (= 1. 37-1.92 in.). 

 66-72 mm. (=2.60-2.85 in.). 

 61-63.5 mm. (=2.40-2.50 in.). 



Geographical Distribution 



In Russia this magnificent bird is as yet known to breed only in the Chukchi 

 Peninsula, mainly on the river Anadyr ; as a bird of passage it winters in Kamchatka, and 



