NOTES AND QUERIES. 151 



certainly the case ; if not so, upon what characters does Alpheraky 

 depend for establishing the numerous new species, such as Anser 

 arvensis, A. neglectus, A. arvensis sibiricus, &c, &c. ? As to the specific 

 validity of A. gambeli, it may be noted that in a note on page 42, at the 

 commencement of his article on the White-fronted Goose, Alpheraky 

 refuses to recognize A. gambeli as a species ; on page 57 he admits the 

 large size of the bills of my birds, but erroneously gives my largest 

 measurement as 2-0 instead of 2-24 — I have since secured larger ones 

 — but on page 56 he makes the curious assertion tbat I have not 

 measured my bills correctly, that I must have measured round the 

 curve of the nail instead of taking a straight line ! This is wrong. 

 For measuring my bills I use best quality fine steel tryers and steel 

 measure, and do not — cannot with tryers — go round the curve of nail, 

 but take a straight line from base of bill to end of nail. If I adopted 

 the practice of some ornithologists, and put the point of the tryers 

 amongst the feathers at base of bill, I could very nearly reach the maxi- 

 mum 2-35 of American measurements. To return to the question of A. 

 gambeli. Since the publication of my paper in 1902, I have secured 

 specimens to fill all gaps, which now make my series of this bird a 

 perfectly complete one. In all the new specimens the extra length of 

 neck as compared with A. albifrons was unvarying. This important 

 character is utterly ignored by Alpheraky ! As to that author's sup- 

 position that my specimens may not be identical with American birds, 

 I may state that on my return journey from my recent expedition to 

 Central British Columbia, I visited the United States, and examined all 

 specimens of A. gambeli in museums from Victoria, British Columbia, 

 through the chief cities of Canada to New York, where at the National 

 Museum, through the kindness of Dr. Allen and his courteous 

 assistant, Mr. Miller, I was enabled to study the entire series of this 

 bird, and had no difficulty whatever in determining the whole as being 

 referable to A. gambeli, and identical in all important characters with 

 my series of birds. I did not find a specimen on any portion of the 

 American continent I visited that I could have referred to A. albifrons. 

 On the question of the translation of Dr. Radde's description of the 

 colours of bill in A. rubrirostris, there is a footnote on page 49 stating 

 that Eadde referred to " the bright rufous-coloured feathers at base of 

 bill." Whatever Badde did say, or intended to say, is beside the fact 

 that there is a rusty red semicircular band at base of bill, not the 

 feathers, in this bird, which can be seen only in the living or freshly 

 killed specimens. It is clear that Alpheraky has never seen such. 

 Mr. Stuart Baker has studied living specimens of this bird in the 

 market at Calcutta, and instantly recognized this rusty-red band when 



