224 
ALLEN S NATURALIST S LIBRARY. 
'Fhey may be said to be absolutely cosmopolitan in their range, 
and no country is without them, as far as we know. 
I am indebted to Count Salvadori, who is engaged on the 
twenty-seventh volume of the “ Catalogue of Birds in the 
British Museum,” for giving me his scheme of classification of 
the Anseres for the benefit of the present volume ; and every 
one who knows the excellence of that author’s work will under- 
stand that his advice has been of material assistance to me. 
I have mainly followed the order of Mr. Howard Saunders 
“ Manual ” for the British species, which varies but little from 
that adopted by the Count. My Order Anseriformes is equiva- 
lent to the Family AnatidcB of Count Salvadori, who divides the 
Family into eleven Sub-families, with some of which, being ex- 
clusively tropical forms, we need not concern ourselves further 
in the present work. Following, therefore, as nearly as pos- 
sible, Count Salvadori’s system, and merely altering the order 
of the Geese and Swans, we find that he divides the Anatidce 
into three division.s, depending on the presence or absence of 
a lobe on the hind-toe. Geese and Swans have no lobe, the 
True Ducks have only a very narrow one ; while the Diving 
Ducks and the Mergansers have a broad lobe. 
THE GEESE. SUB-FAMILY ANSERINE. 
As already mentioned, the Geese are distinguished by the 
absence of a lobe on the hind-toe, which is moderately large; 
the bill is stout and high at the base, and there is no cere. 
They differ from the majority of Ducks in not having any 
metallic colours in the plumage and no “ wing-speculum.” 
The typical “ Grey ” Geese are mostly birds of the northern 
parts of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, the most 
southern species being Anser indicus, which inhabits Central 
Asia and the Indian Peninsula, and Nesocheti sand^mchensis, 
which is confined to the Sandwich Islands. All the species of 
“ Black” or Brent Geese are birds of ihe Arctic Regions, and 
occur in temperate latitudes chiefly in winter. In the Southern 
Plemispliere their place is taken by the Kelp Geese ( Cloepha^a) 
of South America and the Maned Goose {Chenonettd) of Aus- 
tralia. 
Four species of Geese have been recorded as British, which 
