NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 159 



certain amount of sociability during the breeding season, 

 many pairs nesting within a small area. I cannot find 

 that the nest of this Goose has ever been described by 

 a naturalist. Von Middendorff states that he met with 

 this species breeding in some numbers in the valley 

 of the Boganida, and he was the first naturalist to 

 obtain its eggs. Another nest was discovered on one of 

 the islands in the delta of the Yenesay (inadvertently 

 given as the Petchora in my work on Game Birds and 

 Wild Fozvl) containing two eggs, one of which was 

 broken, as the female was shot upon them, and the other 

 was brought to Mr. Seebohm, then on his visit to that 

 region. This nest was described by its unscientific 

 discoverer as being like that of a Bean Goose, but not so 

 large. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The number of eggs laid by the Red-breasted Goose is 

 unknown ; it is to be regretted that Mr. Seebohm did 

 not at least count the broods swimming with their 

 parents, which he saw on the Yenesay, as this would 

 have furnished some clue to the extent of the clutch. 

 They are creamy-white, obscurely marked with green, 

 smooth in grain, and for a Goose (tg^ remarkably fragile. 

 Average measurement, 275 inches in length by 176 

 inch in breadth. The duration of the period of incuba- 

 tion is unknown, as is also which parent performs the 

 task. 



Diagnostic characters : If the traces of an under- 

 lying green shell that show here and there through the 

 creamy-white are constant, then this peculiarity, com- 

 bined with the very fragile shell, is enough to distinguish 

 them from those of every other Goose known to me. If 

 my memory serves me correctly Middendorff fiorures the 

 egg of this Goose displaying similar indistinct pale green 

 patches. 



