“Adult male in summer.—Forehead, crown, and nape hair-brown, the former darkest; remainder of head, whole neck, and lower plumage white; a broad collar round the neck black in front, glossy green behind; white of breast produced round the neck and forming another collar below the black one; back, scapulars, rump, tertiaries, and wing-coverts deep glossy green; secondaries glossy green, broadly tipped with white; primaries dark brown on the basal halves, then white with the tip black; under wing-coverts greenish black; upper tail-coverts white freckled with brown; under tail-coverts dark brown mottled with white; sides of the body vermiculated with brown. ‘Bill black; iris bright red; legs, toes, and webs black, sides of tarsus and toes dusky yellow; claws horny brown.’ (Oates.) Length, 330; wing, 165; tail, 76; culmen, 23; tarsus, 25.
“Female.—Forehead and a supercilium dirty white; crown and nape dark brown; lores and line through eyes blackish; remainder of head, the whole neck, and upper breast dull white, mottled with brown, the marks on breast and hind neck becoming well-defined wavy lines; lower plumage dull white, streaked and distinctly barred with brown; whole upper surface, wings, and tail brown; secondaries tipped with white and inner primaries also more narrowly tipped with white; upper tail-coverts white, freckled with brown; under wing-coverts brown, each feather margined with white. ‘Bill brown above, yellowish below; iris brown; legs and toes greenish yellow.’ (Oates.) Size a trifle less than the male.
“Male in winter.—Similar to the female, but always retains the conspicuous white patch on the primaries.
“Young.—‘Similar to the female till the first spring.’ (Oates.)
“Young in down.—Upper parts, flanks, and under tail-coverts blackish brown; a broad superciliary stripe, cheeks, throat, front neck, and breast white; a broad line through the eyes; two broad white spots on each side of back, one near the base of wings, and the other, much longer, on the sides of the rump; feathers of tail blackish, very long, and stiff.” (Salvadori.)
A male collected near Anao, Tarlac Province, Luzon, March 14, 1904, measured, 290 in length; wing, 165; tail, 68; culmen from frontal feathers, 21; tarsus, 27; middle toe with claw, 42. A female from the same locality and of the same date measured: Length, 290; wing, 165; tail, 66; culmen from frontal feathers, 22; tarsus, 23; middle toe with claw, 39.
“The eggs of the Indian dwarf goose, or ‘cotton teal,’ are generally truly elliptical in form, occasionally compressed at the smaller end, very smooth and glossy, and cream-color. They measure from 39 to 44 in length and from 30 to 35 in breadth.” (Oates.)
This little bird is the only species of goose so far recorded from the Islands; it occurs on the Laguna de Bay and a few specimens were secured in Tarlac Province, Luzon. Oates lists three eggs of this species as having been collected in Siquijor by the Steere Expedition but Steere does not mention the species. A large goose has been reported as occurring in the northern part of Luzon but no specimen has been taken.