THE TRUE GEESE. 233 



Young Birds. — Darker than the adults, with a tinge of tawny- 

 buff about the neck. 



Characters. — Distinguished by the black nail at the end of the 

 bill, the orange feet, and orange band across the middle of the 

 bill. 



Eange in Great Britain. — The Bean-Goose does not breed with 

 us, but is a visitor in autumn and spring, and occurs through- 

 out the winter on most parts of the coasts, though in some 

 localities it is much more plentifully observed than in others. 



Hange outside the British Islands. — This species breeds far away 

 to the north, on the tundras of the Petchora and the Yenesei, 

 and also in Lapland and Scandinavia above 64° N. lat., as 

 well as in Novaya Zemlya. It also nests near Archangel. A 

 specimen procured by Mr. Seebohm in the valley of the 

 Yenesei is referred by Count Salvador! to the true Bean-Goose, 

 but in Eastern Siberia, eastwards from the Boganida River, its 

 place is taken by an allied species, A. serrirostris^ which breeds 

 m the high north, and w'inters in China and Japan. The Bean- 

 Goose of Europe winters in the southern countries of the Con- 

 tinent, and is abundant in most of them at that season of the 

 year, as it is also in Southern Russia and the Caspian. 



Habits. — To its arctic breeding-ground the Bean-Goose be- 

 takes itself as soon as there is any sign of the break-up of the 

 cold, and of the ice disappearing, and Mr. Seebohm has given 

 a very graphic account of his meeting with the species on the 

 Petchora and on the Yenesei Rivers, where he saw the first birds 

 on the 9th and loth of May respectively. Small flocks passed 

 during the next fortnight, but on the wind changing to the 

 north, and the frost recommencing, the geese were seen flying 

 south again. When, however, the full migration set in, he says 

 that " flock after flock foUo wed every few minutes, winging their 

 way northwards at a great speed. The first arrivals flew high in 

 the air, as if keeping a good look-out for any open water, but 

 when the thaw commenced they flew low, many skimming over 

 tlie surface of the snow on the ice of the river, below the level 

 of the forests, but most of them hugging the shore-line." 



After the young are hatched, the old birds begin to moult, 

 and for this purpose retire into the tundra, accompanied by the 



