344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Anser albifrons. — Fourth stage. Shot, Galway, February 8th, 

 1902. 



It will be observed that I lack stages two and three in this 

 bird. But my first specimen gives me first and some of the 

 second characters, while the present, which is a very interesting 

 bird, gives me the fourth and some of the fifth. Compare this 

 bird with the fourth stage of A. gambeli, and the general tone of 

 colouring will be found to be quite distinct. Instead of the 

 under parts becoming almost white, as they do eventually in the 

 larger bird, in this they are a stone drab down to the abdomen, 

 which is certainly a very important distinction. On the under 

 parts there is a moulted black feather here and there, drab ones 

 with the black colouring being thrown into them, and a few with 

 the darker drab of the first plumage not all extracted. There is 

 no trace of this bird ever having been a " speckle-belly." On the 

 head and neck there is more of a slaty tinge. The mantle and 

 outer wing-coverts are much darker. There is a broad space of 

 white at the base of the bill, which also extends low down under 

 the throat ; but there may be a tendency to albinism in this 

 bird, as there are a few white feathers scattered on the neck ; 

 nevertheless, it is as well to point out that the white extends 

 under the throat in the first plumaged bird, but is not traceable 

 in any of the immature specimens of A. gambeli. 



Female. — Length 26 in.; weight 4^ lb. ; wing 15 in. ; bill 

 1*80 in. ; tarsus 2*52 in.; neck 1\ in. 



Anser gambeli. — Sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth stages. Shot, 

 Galway, February 14th, 1902; January 20th, 1902; 

 February 19th, 1902; and Mayo, January 18th, 1892. 



In the fifth stage of this bird, which I miss in my series, but 

 am well acquainted with, the whole of the under parts have 

 become a dull white, with a black feather showing here and 

 there. 



In the sixth stage the drab colouring matter — now pale — has 

 been thrown into the previously white feathers of the under 

 parts ; large patches and broken bands of black are appearing as 

 the result of moult combined with the deposition of the black 

 pigment. It appears to me that up to this sixth stage the bird 



