Printed on the plate
“Bean-Goose”
Anser segetum
Engraved caption: ANSER SEGETUM.
Modern identification
Anser fabalis
- Judged
- Checked against the engraved caption
- Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl · Anatidae
Why
Gould's Anser segetum (Gmelin's name, a synonym of A. fabalis) is the Taiga Bean-Goose by name, and his account fits it: breeding in Sweden, Norway, Lapland and Finland, wintering in flocks in eastern Scotland and Stirlingshire, near where Britain's last Taiga flock (Slamannan) still winters. The plate's long-necked adult male has a long bill, black at base and nail with an orange band, about 60 mm long at the text's two-thirds scale; that leans Taiga but overlaps the Tundra Bean-Goose, so the plate alone does not settle it.
Sources
engraved caption; Gould's text; the plate, measured at the text's two-thirds scale
Who made the plate
J. Gould & H. C. Richter, del et lithWalter, Imp.
- John Gould drew and lithographed
- Henry Constantine Richter drew and lithographed
- Walter printed
As the credit line gives it. More on who made these plates.