THE BEAN GOOSE. 69 
nearly full-feathered, and early in August they could fly. They 
became very tame, and would follow any one so soon as they 
got accustomed to see people. 
“Von Middendorff saw the first on the Bogonida (in 70° North 
Latitude} on the 14th April (O. S.); andthey settled down for 
nidification on the tundras of Taimyrland. He found a nest 
containing eggs on the Ist July ; and on the 17th of that month 
the Bean Geese began to moult on the Taimyr. In South-east 
Siberia he saw the first near Anginsk onthe 23rd April; and 
the return migration commenced onthe 30th August on the 
south coast of the Sea of Ochotsk. It breeds, he adds, in the 
Stanowoi Mountains and on the Great Schantar Island. Von 
Middendorff says, that the nest he found on the Taimyr was in 
the hollow in the top of a high tussock close to the river, about 
two fathoms above the water, and was a mere lining of old 
grass bents and a little down to the hollow. 
“T have eggs of the Bean Goose which are like those of the 
Grey Lag Goose, but rather smaller in size, and slightly less 
rough in grain of shell.” 
Which sub-species these several quotations may refer to, (assum- 
ing, as I do, that there probably are two or more such) it is 
impossible now to decide. 
AS TO DIMENSIONS I will reproduce those given by Naumann 
of arvensis and segetum, by Macgillivray of his segetum (proba- 
bly arvensis), by Swinhoe of serrivostris, the sub-species most 
likely to visit us, and by Severtzoff of mddendor ffi. 
Naumann. Macgillivray. Swinhoe. Severtzoff. 
; arvensis. segetum. segetum.  serrirostris, middendorffi. 
Length em OIO) LO) 22,08 125-6) £012 5.0 31 31°5 33°42 to 34°33 
Expanse ... 59°3 to63°0 59°3 to 66°6 64 ae 64°90 to 64°58 
Wing ez 5 ton LOIS) lO (O17) 7 18°5 EONS eed uae aan ke ace 
Tail eee tO 5 051), 4:0) toy 5-1 55 TE OR. ii keeciatce sc 
Tarsus ee 20 e tO a8 2°8 BO) EAM ae la eiatiee sas 
Bill from gape... rio. ah nanan Resa ae ZO hint han dealcioes 
Culmen Peas LO 27450 2iOstO 2:28 238 Soh ta Wieeeneerabee 
Weight mr 7lbss to rolbs, | 5:28ibstoolbs |” 3: a Tolbsto 1o°5|b. 
In very old specimens of arvvenszs the bill is black and orange 
as shown in our plate; but in younger specimens of this larger 
form there is more black on the sides and on the base of the bill, 
but never, Naumann affirms, nearly so much as in segetum, in 
which the black is distributed much as in our plate of brachy- 
rhynchus, only that the coloured ring is orange, not carmine, and 
is a little further back on the bill. 
In all the Bean Geese the legs and feet are a more or less 
orange yellow, paler in the young, more orange in the old; the 
claws blackish brown ; and the irides deep brown. 
THE PLATE is a very fair representation of one of the Bean 
Geese, These may be distinguished at once from the Grey Lags 
