NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 151 



Diagnostic characters : Unfortunately no char- 

 acter can be given by which the eggs of the Pink-footed 

 Goose can be distinguished from those of the Bean Goose 

 and the White-fronted Goose. They may be separated 

 from those of the Gray Lag Goose by their hghter shell 

 weight. 



Family ANATID.^. Genus Anser. 



Sub-family ANSERINE.. 



WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Anser albifrons {Scopoli). 



(British : Local autumn and winter migrant.) 



Single Brooded probably. Laying season, June. 



Breeding area : Northern Pala^arctic region. The 

 White-fronted Goose breeds in the Arctic regions of 

 Europe and Asia. It breeds in Iceland, Northern Scan- 

 dinavia, and Russia, and eastwards through Northern 

 Siberia, probably as far as Bering Strait. 



Breeding habits : The White-fronted Goose returns 

 to its Arctic haunts as soon as they become habitable, 

 which is seldom before the end of May or early in June. 

 It is gregarious whilst on passage, but whether it breeds 

 in societies is not known. Von Middendorfif met with 

 it breeding in great numbers on the tundras of the 

 Taimyr peninsula, but the probability is the birds were 

 nesting in scattered pairs. This goose also may mate 

 for life. The nests found by Middendorff are described 

 as being built on the hummocks which are so charac- 

 teristic of the tundras, and mere hollows lined with 

 down. The nests described by Dall in Alaska, as 

 mere depressions in the sand, and by MacFarlane on 



