42 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



Anser albifrons (Scop.). 

 White-fronted Goose. 



Native name: 'Helsingi.' Grondal applies this name 

 to Bernicla leucopsis, and calls the present species 

 Gragaes. It is possible that he does so correctly, 

 and I am quite prepared to accept his emendation ; 

 but nine out of ten Icelanders mean the White- 

 fronted when they speak of the Helsingi. 



Faber was the first to notice this species, in 1820, 

 and found it breeding on the Ipvem and J)jorsa rivers 

 in the south. I am not aware that any one has since 

 had a similar experience, and Faber's statement has 

 been questioned by Kriiper (iVaitm., 1857, second article, 

 ' Anser albifrons . . . briitet wahrscheinlich keine auf 

 Island '), and he calls it a w^anderer only on its way to 

 and from Spitzbergen and Greenland. It is precisely 

 because it does breed in these two countries that it 

 may be expected to do so to a less extent in Iceland, 

 and those Arctic species (as the Bean Goose), which 

 have no reason for passing by Iceland, may be put 

 down as unlikely to breed there. I have myself 

 obtained a specimen of A. albifrons on the Skjalfanda- 

 fljot, shot on July 30, 1885, as it was making its way 

 with others down to the coast. I have not the least 

 doubt that this bird had bred in the interior, as it had 

 hardly recovered from the moult. In any country 

 where recently moulted geese are met with, it would 

 be safe to infer that they had bred there. If anybody 



