Severtzoff’s ‘Fauna of Turkestan? 417 
Pallas, not agreeing, except as regards the large size, as 
pointed out to me by Brandt, who considered Pallas’s Anser 
grandis to be nothing but a large form of Anser cygnoides. 
It is true that A. grandis, Pall., resembles Anser cygnoides, 
much as dA. grandis, Midd. (A. middendorffi, nob.), does 
Anser segetum. The two latter differ as follows :—A. mid- 
dendorffi is larger, has an orange band on the black mandi- 
ble; and its head is redder, being reddish brown, and not 
greyish brown, as in A. segetum; and even this last charac- 
teristic is not constant, as is to be seen from Von Schrenck’s 
Amoor specimens. Males of A. middendorff from the Amoor 
measure—total length 33” 5!-34!' 4!" extent 64!—64!! 7!"", 
culmen 1” 9!-2", weight 10-103 lb. It is therefore larger 
than Anser cinereus, which measures 334" in length, 624" in 
extent, and weighs 9 lb. A. middendorffi occurs in flocks 
of thousands on the Aris river and its tributaries, on the 
Keless and Chirchick ; towards the north-east of the Aris it 
occurs on passage. But in 1867 and 1868 it was not so nu- 
merous as usual on the above-named rivers, and was met with 
more numerously on the unfrozen lakes in the vicinity, where 
food was more abundant throughout the winter. In these 
flocks were also individuals of Anser segetum and of another 
species, which was, I believe, Anser obscurus, Brehm, a small 
form of Anser segetum; but these birds were more wary than 
A. middendorffi, and I could not obtain a specimen. I also 
occasionally saw small flocks of A. albifrons. It is curious 
how the Geese may be classified into small divisions of forms 
which approach each other in appearance, some already con- 
stituting distinct species, whereas others are yet in the pro- 
cess of separation, differing only by some trifling but constant 
difference in size, colour, or form of beak. They may be 
arranged as follows :— 
1. Anser grandis, Anser cygnoides. 
2. Anser middendorffi, A. segetum, A.. arvensis, A. obscu- 
rus, Brehm., &c. 
3. Anser cinereus, A. albifrons, A. medius, A. minutus, and 
A. cineraceus, Brehm. 
4. Cygnopsis canadensis, Bernicla leucopsis. 












































