598 Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Russian 



Mr. Brousnefi: found a few birds nesting at Cape Rojin, 

 New Siberia^ and large numbers were found moulting in the 

 plains of the river Bolchaia and its tributaries in the middle 

 of the island. According to the ivory merchants, the chief 

 nesting-place of this Goose is on the tundra near the coasts 

 of the Arctic Ocean from the delta of the Yana River along 

 the Rivers Syalakh and Mouksounovka, and further east 

 towards the River Khrom^ while large numbers breed on the 

 islands in the vicinity, such as Makar and Streloniki. Not 

 many I'cmain during the moulting-season in the vicinity of 

 their nesting-haunts. 



Mr. Birulia was not able to give any particulars respecting 

 the nesting-habits of this Goose from personal observation, 

 but he ascertained from the natives in the Yansk district, 

 and from Messrs. Koltchak and BrousneflF, who found nests 

 on the islands of the New Siberian Archipelago, that they 

 were situated differently from those of Branta bernicla, as they 

 were placed, like those of Somateria spectabilis, in low-lying 

 river-valleys where there were numerous pools of stagnant 

 water or near lakes not far distant from the coast. 



Branta nigricans nests also in large numbers near the 

 estuary of: the River Balyktaklia on Kotelny Island, which 

 is known to the ivory merchants under the name " Gull 

 Island^' and is visited by them for collecting eggs. The 

 nests are mere hollows in the ground, well lined with down. 

 The islands of the New Siberian Archipelago appear to 

 be the northernmost locality where B. nigricans occurs in 

 large numbers, though a few pairs may range further north. 

 On the island of New Siberia the last was seen on the 

 10th/23rd August. 



Anser erytkropns, Anser albijrons, and Anser segetum are all 

 three included by Mr. Birulia ; but Anser erytkropus was only 

 met with on the mainland, and he gives no information 

 respecting the other two species from personal observation. 



Chen hyperboreus was not seen by Mr. Birulia personally, 

 but he was informed that it is found all over the tundra of 

 the Yansk district from the estuaries of the Lena, on the 

 plains of the Yana River, along the Syalakh and Mouk- 

 sounovka Rivera, and even further north towards the Sviatoi 



