2 6 Geese of Europe and Asia 



Johansen, Nauchn. Ocherki Tomsk, kr., 1898, Omd. ptits, p. 65 ; Khomyakov, Pt. Ryaz. (Mat. pozn. 



Faun, i Fl, R. I., Omd. Zool., pt. 5 (1900)); Lorenz, Die Vogel Mosk. Gouv., p. 58 (MS. note 



of author on absence in-Mosc. Gov.) (1894) ; Ruzsky, M., Trudy Obshch. Yest. pr. Kaz. Universit., xxv. 



pt. 6, p. 115 (1893); Zarndny, Ekskur. Sev.-vostochn. Pers., Pt, p. 105. "Zap. Imp. Ak. N.," viii. 



ser., vol. x., No. 1 (1900); Pleske, Th. Orn. Ausb. Gebr. Grum-Grzym. Centr. As. (Mel. Biol, xiii. p. 



298, 1892); Buturlin, Sinopt. tabl. Okhotn. Pt., p. 45 (1901); Karamzin, Pt. Bugur., Bugulm. i t. d. 



Ufimsk., p. 180 (1901); Kirilov, Okh. i Okhotn. Khozyaistvo Zabaik. (" Prir. i Okhota," 1902, 



iii.) ; Gobel, G. Oolog. MS. (1902) ; MS. inserted at length in this work. 

 Anser vulgaris, Pallas, Zoogr. Ross.-As., ii. p. 222 (181 1); Vavilov, Okhota v Rossii, pt. 4, p. 37 (1873); 



Yablonsky, " Prir. i Okh.," 1891, vii. (Okh. v Minusinsk, uyezde Yenis.). 

 Anser ferns, SchaerT., Mus. Orn., p. 67 (1789); Stephens, Gen. Zool., xii. p. 28, pi. 41 (1824); Gould, Birds of 



Europe, pi. 347; Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii. p. 89 (1895); Artsibash., Bull. Soc. Mosc, 



1859, iii. p. 99; Blanford, Fauna Brit. India, Birds, iv. (1898), p. 416; Finn, How to know the 



Indian Ducks, 1901, p. 14; Macpherson, History of Fowling, 1897, p. 222. 

 Anser palustris, Fleming, Brit. Animals, p. 126 (1828). 

 Anser sylvestris, Brehm (nee Brisson), Vog. Deutschl., p. 836 (1831). 



Anser cineraceus (errore), Marchand, Revue et Mag. Zool. (1877), p. 355, pi. 14 (pullus, pi. exxxv.). 

 Anser anser, Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml., p. 226 (1891) ; Oates, Man. Game Birds of India, ii. p. 90 (1899). 

 Anser rubrirostris (Hodgson, Icon, ined.), Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii., 1895, P- 91 ; Gray, Cat. 



Hodgson Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 144 (1846); Zhitnikov, Nabl. na r. Atreke (" Psov. i Ruzh. Okh.," 1900); 



id., separ., p. 56, etc.; Buturlin, Dikie Gusi R. I. ("Psov. i Ruzh. Okh.," 1901, Febr.-Apr.) ; id., separ., 



p. 13 ; Coburn, F., "The Zoologist," 1903, p. 46. 

 Anser cinereus var. rubrirostris, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, p. 416 (Shanghai); Przewalski, 



Mongol, i str. Tang, ii. p. 149 (1871); Buturlin, Opred. Plastinchatokl. ("Psov. i Ruzh. Okh.," 1900); 



id., separ., p. 9 {Sibirsky sery gus). 

 Anser cinereus /3 subalbifrons, Severtsov, J. f. Orn., 1875, p. 184 {nomen nudum). 

 Anser cinereus rubrirostris, Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, iii. p. 501 (1885); Zarndny, Eksp. Vost. Persii, 1901, 



pp. 122 and 138. 

 Anser ferus s. vulgaris, Sevast, in note to Opisanie Kamchatki, Krasheninnikov, pp. 473 and 488 (18 18). 

 Sery gus, Aksakov, Zap. Okhotn. Or. g., p. 150 (1852) (2nd ed.). 



Adult Male 



Head, neck, and anterior half of back grey-brown ; scapulars grey-brown, with lighter 

 greyish edges. Around base of bill a narrow, more or less interrupted, white streak, which, 

 as in some other geese, and in particular the Chinese goose, is sometimes coloured more or 

 less bright rufous or rusty. Generally this streak, 2-3 mm. in width at its broadest part, 

 i.e. on forehead, is broken at the bare angles of upper mandible, so as to be sometimes reduced 

 to a mere white patch on forehead and to a lesser patch on each side of the base of bill. 

 This white streak attains its greatest development in very aged ganders ; but cases occur 

 where the white patch attains a far greater development on the forehead than usual, and, 

 probably, on the basis of such a specimen Severtsov established a variety—/? subalbifrons, 

 without, however, giving a description {Journ. f. От., 1875, p. 184). 



Lower back and rump light ashen grey ; upper tail-coverts white. Fore-neck, breast, 

 and abdomen light greyish brown ; on abdomen more or less numerous transverse black 

 bars, scattered or more or less confluent, the latter apparently occurring in older birds. 1 

 Lower abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts white. Tail usually consisting of 18 feathers, 2 

 coloured as follows : two outer ones white on each side ; two middle greyish brown, with 

 white tips ; the rest for the most part greyish brown, with very thin outer white margins, 

 while their inner webs pass, more or less gradually, towards the edge into whitish, the tips 

 however being all white. Sides of body brown with lighter grey edges to feathers, 

 producing a transverse light-barred appearance. Upper lesser wing-coverts, carpal, winglet, 

 primary coverts, and primaries themselves in basal third very light ashen grey ; middle 



1 The same observed in white-fronted goose and in lesser white-fronted goose. 



2 There are statements as to the number of tail-feathers sometimes reaching 20. 



