SPECIFIC VALIDITY OF ANSEB BUBBIBOSTBIS. 47 



but narrow band of pure white at base of forehead and sides of 

 bill, present in both adults and immature. But it was the very 

 curious colours of the soft parts which caused me to ponder 

 most, and to still more critically examine my birds, comparing 

 them with my series of A. cinereus, and with fresh specimens of 

 this bird. This was before skinning my five specimens ; and I 

 now made the important osteological discovery that the wings in 

 all of them did not reach the end of the tail by over one inch ! 

 whereas in A. cinereus the wings not only reach the end of the 

 tail, but, if anything, slightly overlap. Upon investigating this 

 matter as fully as I could, I felt fairly confident that my birds 

 must be A. rubrirostris, and that this one osteological character 

 ought to be sufficient to definitely separate the bird from its near 

 ally. When I state that the wing in the adult male gave the 

 great measurement of 19^ in. against 18 in. in the largest speci- 

 men of A. cinereus in my series — a bird I have always regarded 

 as being a very large one — it will be readily understood that the 

 fact of this long wing not reaching the end of tail by over one 

 inch gives to A. rubrirostris a much longer and slenderer form 

 than ,4. cinereus. This is instantly and strikingly manifest when 

 the mounted birds are placed side by side, and one can see from 

 structure alone that they are distinct birds. I may here say that 

 all my wildfowl are mounted by me ; I do not allow any of my 

 assistants to touch them. Consequently all are mounted upon 

 one principle, that being my own. I thoroughly study the 

 anatomy of my specimens, and replace in the skin an exact copy 

 of the body I take out ; consequently I get perfect proportions 

 to every bird, and any anatomical peculiarities are bound to show 

 themselves. It is important that I make this statement, other- 

 wise it might be said that this slenderer form was due to the 

 mounting. I feel quite confident that this slender form to a 

 large bird would be quite apparent if the living bird were seen 

 side by side with A. cinereus. 



I took the adult male of my five specimens, together with 

 another Wild Goose — noticed in a separate paper* — to the 

 British Museum, and compared it with the series of A. rubri- 

 rostris in the National Collection, the result fully satisfying me 

 that my identification was correct. Some of the Indian skins 



■•' Anser paludosus (ante, 1902, pages 441-8). 



