Anser cinereus, Mey.
945. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 779 ; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 26 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 283; Game Birds of India, Vol. III, p. 55 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 136.
THE GREY GOOSE.
Length, 30 to 35; expanse, 58 to 68 ; wing, 15.75 to 19.0 ; tail, 5.75 to 7.0; tarsus, 2.5 to 3.2 ; weight, 5 3/4 to 8 14/16 lbs.
Bill creamy-white to pale livid fleshy-pink or dingy livid purplish-red ; nail sullied white ; irides brown.
Legs and feet vary in color, similar to the bill.
Head and neck clove-brown, tinged with grey, the forehead whitish ; back, scapulars, greater and middle wing-coverts, clove-brown, the feathers broadly edged with greyish-white ; lower back and upper tail-coverts bluish-ashy; lesser wing-coverts and base of the primaries bluish-grey; primaries black, shaded with grey, with the shafts white ; secondaries black, edged with white ; rump and sides of the upper tail-coverts white; tail brown, edged with white, the outermost one almost wholly white; breast and upper belly greyish white, undulated with bars of a deeper tint; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts white.
The Grey or Lag Goose of England is very common in Sind, occurring in all the larger lakes, and on the river ; it is far from being uncommon in Guzerat, Central India and Rajputana; it does not occur in the Deccan.
It is a- cold weather visitant only. It is very variable in plumage, scarcely two birds being found alike.
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