Bean-Goose 117 



nesting (in large numbers) in East Siberia, how are we to explain the fact that I have not 

 found a single example in all the collections I have examined ? On these grounds, I come 

 to the conclusion that in East Siberia, where it is generally known under the name of bean- 

 goose, there exists not the typical M. segetum, but its thick-billed representative, first noted 

 by Gould г and afterwards described by Swinhoe as M. segetum serrirostris. 



Especially interesting is the fact that the latter form occurs even far more west than 

 Lake Baikal, as is proved by specimens obtained on passage in April near Barnaul and 

 kindly forwarded to me by Professor N. F. Kashchenko, of Tomsk University. Thus, if it 

 be admitted that some of the typical M. segetum breeding in the Far North travel south-west 

 to winter, and some south-east, and also that this species nests in Russia only between 

 44 and 80 , 2 it will be easily understood why it is not met with in Turkestan, or (if it occur 

 there) only as a rare and occasional straggler. The two divergent routes of its passage must 

 avoid Turkestan ; and there is thus no possibility of the species getting there, with its given 

 breeding-range. 



Only if these geese travelled straight from north to south, could we expect them to 

 occur in Turkestan. That some flocks of M. segetum from the Far North fly south-west is 

 beyond doubt, and the flocks of these geese occurring in Western Europe are certainly all 

 of Russian origin. Where, then, we may ask, do these masses of bean-geese seen on 

 passage on the Kama and the Middle Volga pass the winter? 



We know that neither in the Transcaspian nor in the Caspian region (with Leukoran 

 and the whole western shore) does this species occur, either on migration or in winter, 

 and if it is recorded from Transcaspia as a rare bird, this is in all probability in error 

 for M. arvensis. In the valley of the Kura, in Transcaucasia, Dr. G. T. Radde saw, during 

 warm winters, many bean-geese, but we do not know of what species, since, in his Ornis 

 Caucasica, this author declares that he unites M. segetum and M. arvensis in one species, on 

 the authority of Mr. Dresser. 



In the Azov district representatives of the genus Melanonyx are so scarce on both 

 migrations that they are quite lost in the masses of greater and lesser white-fronted geese, 

 and practically never fall to the gunners, at least in those parts of the region where I shot 

 so many years. 



There remain the Black Sea and its shores, but of these we know scarcely anything, 

 and what species of bean-geese winter in the Crimea (on the Sivash and in various bays) 

 we unfortunately have no knowledge, although we may surmise that here are the winter 

 haunts of bean, yellow-billed, and even Sushkin's geese. 



From North-east Africa and throughout Egypt the bean-goose is absent; but it 

 winters, apparently, together with the yellow-billed species, in some other parts of the 

 Mediterranean basin. Unfortunately, however, owing to its being confounded with other 

 geese of the group Melanonyx, it is at present impossible to ascertain exactly where 

 M. segetum occurs in winter. In the vast flooded swamps (marismas and lagunas) of 

 Southern Spain Mr. Abel Chapman met with bean-geese, in the course of a series of years 

 of sport, in far less numbers than the grey-lag; but unfortunately this observer did not 

 discriminate between the two species of the former. 



As to Central Europe, there is no doubt that Ж segetum is met with almost every- 

 where on passage together with M. arvensis, and it is probably a regular migratory species 



1 In MS. 

 2 Assuming that it breeds from Kolguev and Novaia Zemlia eastwards to the mouths of the Yenisei. 



