THE EASTERN BEAN-GOOSE 



Melanonyx segetum serrirostris, Swinhoe 



Plate 12 



English — Eastern Bean-Goose. 



Russian — Gus pashenny (Maak) ; ? bolshoi gumennik (Yakutsk, teste Maak, probably con- 

 founded with Ellon Middendorffs goose); ? polevoi or ? chernevoi gus 1 (ace. 

 Yablonsky, for Barnaul, where, probably, M. arvensis and M. segetum serrirostris 

 are confounded under these names) ; gumennik сіііппоігіугіѵу and tolstoklyuvy 

 (Buturlin) ; gumennik and diki gus (of sportsmen). 



German — Sibirische Saat-Gans. 



Anser segetum, Middendorff (partim) (nee Gmelin), Sib. R., ii. p. 227 (1851); Schrenck, Reis. Amur-L., p. 463 



(i860); Swinhoe, Ibis, i860, p. 6j — 1861, p. 344 — 1862, p. 253 ; Radde, Reis. S.-O. Sib., ii. p. 356 



(1863) ; Taczanowski, Faune Orn. Sib. or., p. 1095 (1893) 5 David and Oust, Ois. Chine, p. 491 (1877) ; 



Dybowski and Taczanowski, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1884, P- l A7- 

 Anser serrirostris (Gould, MS.), Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii. p. 10 1 (1895); Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, 



p. 269 ; Oates, Man. Game Birds of India, ii. p. j6 ; Hume and Marshall, Game Birds of India, 



iii. pp. 67-69 (1880); Buturlin, Diki Gusi Ross. Imp. (Psov. i Ruzh. Okh., 1901); id., separ., 



p. 45 (1901). 

 Anser segetum, var. serrirostris, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871 (China); Dybowski, J. f. Orn., p. 108 



(1873); Buturlin, Tabl. opr. Plastinchatokl. (Psov. i Ruzh. Okh., 1900); id., sep., p. 8; Macpherson, 



History of Fowling, 1897, p. 228. 

 Anser segetum serrirostris, Stejneger, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 29, p. 144 (1885); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, 



iii. p. 494 (1885) ; id., Birds of Jap. Empire, ii. p. 236 (partim) (1890) ; Buturlin, Sinopt. Tabl. Okh. Pt. 



Ross. Imp., p. 44 (1901). 

 ? Anser segetum middendorffii (Sev.), Nikolsky (partim ?), Sakhalin i yego F. Pozv., p. 224 (an. mentalis, 



Oates ; longit. ung. maxillae— 22 mm. !), 1889. 



Adult Birds 



I can discover absolutely no difference in the colouring of the plumage of the East 

 Siberian variety as compared with the typical bean-goose ; and only the greater size of the 

 whole bird, and the longer and more massive bill, distinguish the former from the latter. 

 Further, although I have not noticed any white feathering along the base of the upper 

 mandible, on the very tip of the chin, or a little short of it, there occur in some examples 

 separate white plumules forming an irregular spot. 



A dark or light rufous tint on the head is frequently met with, as in M. arvensis 

 sibiricus ; but a yellowish or light bay tint, which is not rare in the latter, I have not once seen 

 in the goose under description. Judging by the few specimens, which I consider females, these 



1 Chernevoi, from breeding in the " chern " or " taiga," according to Yablonsky. 



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