422 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



unapproachable except by the aid of a stalking horse ; now 

 they are subject to much persecution both by night and day ; 

 not that they have lost any of their wary nature, but ad- 

 vantage is taken of foggy weather, at which time they are 

 not able to see their enemy hiding behind the fences on their 

 feeding grounds on the Wolds, and they are shot in great 

 numbers with large punt-guns on the Humber at night, Wild 

 Geese not having good sight after dark. 



Wild Geese, like most other birds, are subject to temporary 

 alteration both of habits and location — a heavy fall of snow 

 driving them completely off the Wolds by cutting off their food 

 supplies, they then are compelled to stay in the Humber and 

 paddle about the slob for a precarious living, when the punt- 

 gunners, seeing their chance, take heavy toll of their ranks. 

 In hard frosts they sometimes come inland to tidal rivers, 

 or other open water, and then usually fall victims to the gun, 



A variety of the Pink-footed Goose in the Hull Museum 

 is much darker in colour than the typical form, and has a. 

 black tail instead of a white one. 



SNOW GOOSE. 



Chen hyperboreus {Pallas). 



Casual visitant from North America in winter, of extremely rare 

 occurrence. 



The only claim of this North American species to be ad- 

 mitted to the county list is on the strength of the reported 

 occurrence of three examples seen near Beverley on i6tlx 

 January 1891, by Mr. Henry Sharp, a practical wildfowler. 

 In recording the facts in the Field (24 January i8gi), Mr. 

 Sharp states that the birds were only about two hundred 

 yards distant ; and, on the editor of the paper in question 

 suggesting that the observer might have mistaken Gannets 

 for Snow Geese, he reiterated {Field, 7th February), his 

 opinion as to the identity of the species. 



