288 anatidj:. 



the northern part of that island ^vith Mr. Leigh Smith, he 

 and his party obtained seven examples out of a dozen or 

 more, on a small lake in the hills, opposite Diana Island. 

 There does not appear any evidence that this species has 

 been found in Novaya Zemlya. Mr. Collett is satisfied 

 that a pair of Bernacle Geese for some years past bred on 

 Borgevfer, one of the most northern of the Lofoten Islands, 

 off the coast of Norway ; and the bird certainly visits that 

 country, Sweden, and Denmark, on migration. In winter it 

 occurs sparingly on the northern coasts of Europe, straggling 

 as far south as the mouth of the Guadalquivir in Spain, and 

 Foggia in Italy. It does not seem abundant in the north 

 of Russia, but, according to Sabanaeff, large numbers visit 

 the Ural on migration. Little is known of its distribution in 

 Siberia ; Mr. Seebohm did not meet with it on the Yenesei ; 

 nor did Von Middendorff observe it on his visit to the 

 Taimyr. To the east side of North America it is a very rare 

 straggler, and out of four occurrences, only one specimen, 

 which was obtained by Mr. B. R. Ross at the southern end 

 of Hudson's Bay, is free from the suspicion of having 

 escaped from confinement. 



In captivity Bernacle Geese soon become as familiar as 

 our domestic species, and have lived a very long time in 

 confinement : in one instance as much as thirty-two years. 

 As already stated, a Bernacle Goose has paired with a White- 

 fronted Goose, and a brood was hatched out. 



A small flock of Bernacles, consisting of one gander and 

 four geese, were kept for several seasons in St. James's 

 Park, and young ones were produced in the years 1844 and 

 45. In the Zoological Gardens a brood was hatched on the 

 23rd of May, 1848, and other instances of its breeding are on 

 record. Mr. R. Lloyd Patterson states that a pair kept near 

 Belfast, reared several broods, and although the young were 

 not pinioned, they did not desert the place. The eggs laid 

 in confinement were white, and measured 2-75 by 1'9 in. 

 The pair of birds already mentioned as breeding at Borgevaer, 

 made a nest early in Ma}', composed of moss and straws, 

 sometimes on the narrow ledges of the rocks, and sometimes 



