278 ANATID^. 



1880, tbree Snow Geese passed the boat quite close, "whiter 

 than snow, bills and feet redder than oranges, but, alas ! no 

 gun at hand " ; and on the 25th December, " one on cliff, 

 not shot, no doubt about it " (Migr. Kep. pp. 29, 58). 



In Europe the Snow Goose is said to have occurred at 

 intervals in Germany, especially in Silesia, in considerable 

 flocks. In the south of France an immature bird is stated to 

 have been killed near Aries; and M. Lacroix has recorded the 

 acquisition of one captured on the 13th of December, 1870, 

 out of a band of three, in the Haute-Garonne, where five or 

 six others were seen. Both Von der Miihle and Liudermayer 

 state that this species has been observed in Greece. In Russia 

 Mr. Sabanaeff states, on the authority of sportsmen, that it 

 is found in the Kaslinsky Ural on migration ; and Pallas 

 says that it was met with near Cheli-Uba. It is found about 

 the delta of the Lena and in other parts of north-eastern 

 Siberia, and in Kamschatka ; and in winter considerable 

 flocks visit Japan, where the species is known by the name of 

 Halxu-gan ; the specimens which the Editor has examined 

 belonging to the smaller of the two races. On the Pacific 

 coast of America this bird is more or less abundant from 

 Alaska to Southern California ; and both the large and the 

 small forms occur in great numbers throughout the interior 

 of the continent on all the lakes as far as Hudson's Bay, 

 and the west side of Davis Straits ; migrating southwards on 

 the Atlantic side as far as Texas and Cuba, with occasional 

 visits to the Bermudas. According to Reinhardt, a few 

 stragglers in immature plumage have been observed in 

 Greenland. 



Mr. MacFarlane describes the Snow Geese as being very 

 numerous at Fort Anderson about the 25th of May, flying 

 northwards, but being afterwards driven back by the severity 

 of the weather. The nests, which were discovered on a small 

 island in a lake near Liverpool Bay (70° N., 128° W.), were 

 in holes on the sandy soil, and were well lined with down. 

 The eg^ is said to be large as compared to the size of the 

 bird ; oval in shape, the two ends being of unequal size ; 

 the colour a uniform dirty chalky white ; average measure- 



