Fam. ANATIDiE. 
Bill straight from the gape to the tip, which is suddenly bent down in the form of a pointed 
nail, of nearly equal width throughout; under mandible shorter than the upper, and fitting 
inside the lamellate edges of the latter. Wings pointed, furnished with a spur in some. Tail 
short, varying in the number of feathers. Legs short ; tibia feathered nearly to the knee. 
Tarsus scutellate in front. Feet fully webbed ; hind toe in some furnished with a membiane. 
Of natatorial habit. Sternum with a deep oval-ended notch in each half of the posterior 
margin. 
Subfam. ANSERINiE. 
Bill high at the base, exceeding its width there ; culmen sloping down to the tip, not 
narrower at the base than at the tip. Legs longer, and placed further forward than in the next 
subfamily ; feathered nearly to the knee in most genera. 
Head usually small ; neck long in most. 
Genus SARCIDIORNIS *. . 
Bill short ; base of the culmen flat, the ridge between the nostrils narrow ; nostrils rounded, 
pervious, placed in a depressed membrane ; nail large and prominent ; lamellae in both mandibles 
wide apart and shallow. Wings pointed, 1st and 2nd quills subequal and longest, furnished with 
a prominent tubercle beyond the point. Tail of 12 feathers, rather long, rounded. Tarsus shorter 
than the middle toe, with stout anterior scutes. 
Bill in the male with a high stiff comb. 
SAliCIDIOKNIS MELANONOTUS. 
(THE INDIAN COMB-GOOSE.) 
Anser melanonotus, Forst. Ind. Zool. p. 21, pi. 11 (1781). 
Sarcidiornis melanotus (Penn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 302 (1849). 
Sarkidiornis melanonotus (Penn.), Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268, Jerdon, 
* I place this bird and the following species among the Geese, as I cannot consider them as belonging to the true 
Bucks (Anatinse). In so doing I follow Jerdon, who, however, places the first in a separate subfamily, Plectropterin* 
(“ Spurred Geese ”)• Tim Black-backed Geese ( Sarcidiornis ), examples of which may be seen at the Zoological Gardens, 
are thorough Geese in their structure, deportment, and walk, not possessing the smallest resemblance to the true Ducks. 
