Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/517



investigating the specific validity of Anser gambeli (ante, pp. 337) last winter, I resolved upon the overhauling of my entire series of British Wild Geese, some fifty to sixty mounted birds.

Upon coming to the turn of Anser segetum, I for the first time critically examined a bird which had always been a puzzle to me, and which I procured from St. Abb's Head, Scotland, on the 25th February, 1896. It was my intention at the time to fully examine the curious characters of this bird, but through extreme pressure of other business it was placed in a cabinet, and practically overlooked until this year. Fortunately I did not depart from my usual practice of making special notes on the colours of soft parts, and taking weight and measurements.

The characters of this bird which struck me most forcibly were its great size, being as large and heavy as a very big Greylag; the enormously lengthened swan-like neck; large and also swan-like feet; and the remarkably and distinctly shaped and coloured bill. These convinced me that the bird could not be A. segetum. Zool. 4th ser. vol. IV., December, 1902.