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LAMELLIROSTKAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
The Geese of the Northern Hemisphere vary so much in the details of form, that the genera 
usually recognized are far more artificial than natural, their definition being of the utmost difficulty, 
scarcely two species being exactly alike in the minutiae of external anatomy. No great violence 
would be done their true relationship, were all the North American Geese, except Pliilacte and Den- 
drocycna, referred to a single genus, Anser; but for convenience of classification it may serve the 
purpose best to admit a limited number of genera, defined as follows : — 
ANSEREj®. 
A. Bill variable, the nasal cavity 1 situated near the middle of the maxilla, elongated, and indis- 
tinctly defined; “ nails” of the bill rather small, occupying much less than the terminal 
third of the bill. 
a. Colors variable, but head and neck with little, if any, black. Bill and feet light colored 
(usually reddish) in adult. 
1. Chen. Bill very robust, the culmen slightly, the lower outline of the mandible decidedly, 
convex ; very slightly depressed immediately behind the thickened nails ; commissure 
widely gaping (except in 0. Rossi). Head and neck of adult white ; some species entirely 
white in adult dress, except primaries. Bill and feet reddish in the adult. 
2. Anser. Bill more slender, the culmen gently concave, the lower outline of the mandible 
slightly concave anteriorly ; decidedly caressed immediately behind the rather thin nails ; 
commissure nearly or quite closed, by the close approximation of the tomia. Head and 
neck never white, and no species entirely white (normally). Bill and feet light colored 
in the adult. 
b. Colors dark, with the head and neck chiefly black ; bill and feet deep black at all ages. 
3. Bernicla. Bill usually much as in Anser ; all the characters, except those defined above, 
exceedingly variable. 
B. Bill depressed and broad, the nasal cavity situated in the basal half of the maxilla (its pos- 
terior end nearly or quite touching the frontal feathers), broadly ovate, and distinctly 
defined ; nails of the bill very large, occupying nearly the terminal third of the bill. 
4. Philacte. Color bluish, variegated with whitish borders to the feathers and subterminal 
dusky crescentic bars ; exposed portion of the tail white. Adult with the head and nape 
white, the bill and feet light colored ; young Avith the head plumbeous, the bill and feet 
dusky. 
DeNDROCYCNE/E. 
5. Dendrocycna. Bill longer than the head, the edges nearly parallel, the lamellae entirely 
concealed by the overhanging edge of the maxilla. LoAver part of the tibia bare for a 
considerable distance. Tarsus shorter than the middle toe Avith cIuav, but longer than the 
middle toe Avithout cIuav. 
Besides the species properly considered to be American, another has been recorded as occurring 
Avithin our limits, on the strength of a single specimen shot on Long Island, N. Y. This is the 
Egyptian Goose, Chenalopex cegyptiacus, of South Europe and Northern Africa — a common species 
in aviaries ; so that it is altogether probable that the example in question Avas one escaped from 
confinement. The genus Chenalopex differs from all the North American Geese in its style of 
coloration, the Aving-coverts being white, and the secondaries metallic purplish ; the maxillary 
tomiurn hangs over the mandible so as almost to conceal it terminally, the bill being much de- 
pressed at the end, and very deep through the base ; the legs are lengthened, the tarsus consider- 
ably exceeding the middle toe in length ; the hallux well developed. The colors of C. cegyptiacus 
are as folloAvs : Head Avhitish, Avith an elongated patch surrounding the eye, and a collar encircling 
the loAver part of the neck, chestnut rufous ; neck light brownish gray ; breast, back, scapulars, 
sides, and flanks pale fulvous, finely undulated with dusky ; outer Avebs of tertials (inner second- 
aries) plain chestnut-rufous ; abdomen, anal region, and wing-coverts Avhite, the greater coverts 
barred near the end with black, forming a single narrow bar across the wing ; secondaries dark 
metallic purplish ; primaries, primary-coverts, and alulte, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail plain 
1 By “nasal cavity” is here meant not the opening of the external nostrils, but the opening in the 
maxillary bone, chiefly covered by the overlying membrane. 
