i 34 Geese of Europe and Asia 



crosses nape. Anterior part of neck, from lower portion of white throat, brownish grey, this 

 colour gradually becoming paler and changing into the grey of breast, the feathers of which 

 show whitish edgings. Under-parts and lower tail-coverts white. Flanks pale brown, with 

 subterminal portions of feathers light rufous, and their extreme tips whitish. Back of neck 

 brown-grey, gradually becoming paler as it mingles with upper part of back. Sides of 

 breast, middle of back, and shoulders grey ; each feather, passing towards the extremity into 

 brownish grey, with a whitish tip. Rump bluish grey ; upper tail-coverts white (sometimes 

 with greyish tint). Tail feathers grey, with white edgings, and broad white tips. Upper 

 wing-coverts, under side of wing, and axillaries uniform light bluish grey. Outer primaries 

 grey with blackish tips ; inner primaries and secondaries wholly blackish, latter with narrow 

 whitish edgings. Tertiaries greyish brown. 



Adult Female 

 Generally similar in plumage to gander, but considerably inferior in size and weight. 



Young Birds 



Forehead, sides of head and neck, chin, throat, and top of neck anteriorly white ; 

 occiput, nape, and hind part of neck dark brown ; lower part of fore-neck dark grey. Upper 

 and under surfaces of body more uniform in colour than in adults, and almost without signs 

 of transverse bars or of light tips to feathers. 



Gosling (about three months) 



According to Mr. Hume : " It differs from the adult altogether in the head and neck 

 markings. The bill is, as in the adult, yellow, but with the nail deep brown ; the legs and 

 feet appear to have been a brownish orange ; the forehead is brownish white, a little tinged 

 with rusty ; there is a dusky line through the lores to the eyes ; the whole crown, occiput, 

 and nape is a sooty or dusky black ; below this the back of the neck is wood-brown, and 

 the sides and front of the lower part of the neck are pale dusky greyish, mottled with 

 whitish, this being the colour of the tips of the feathers ; most of the feathers of the breast 

 and abdomen and lower parts generally have a pale, rusty, or fulvous tinge towards the 

 tips ; the conspicuous dark banding of the flanks is almost entirely wanting, only one dark 

 greyish brown feather on each side having as yet made its appearance. 



" There is no trace either of the two distinct black head-bars or of the conspicuous 

 white neck-streak, so that the head and neck look strangely unlike those of the adult. 



"The tail is rather browner than in the old bird." 



Young in Down 



Pale yellowish ; top of head and upper surface of body light brown. 1 

 In regard to the dimensions and weight of the birds and the colouring of the soft- 

 parts, and other details, I quote largely from Mr. Hume; the more readily since it is unlikely 

 that anyone else has had the opportunity of examining so many specimens of this species, 



1 In the drawing of the young in down, given by Severtsov in his Vertik. i Goriz. rasfir. Turk. Zhiv., pi. 10, fig. 4, two black transverse 

 bars are shown on the head as characteristic for adult birds, and in the text it is said (p. 148) that "in it the speckling of the head and 

 neck is already marked," and yet in one bird "the feather shafts were hardly yet pushing through." How to harmonise this statement of 

 Severtsov's with the above-quoted description of a three months' gosling by Mr. Hume, I am completely at a loss. 



