ANATID.E. 



THE BEAN GOOSE. 



Ansep segetum (J. F. Gmelin). 



This and the nearly- allied Pink-footed Goose next to be con- 

 sidered, may readily be distinguished from the two preceding by 

 the black nail at the tip of the bill. As already observed, the Bean 

 Goose does not breed in any part of the British Islands, but it comes 

 to us in autumn, and many frequent our coasts during the winter ; 

 a return migration being observable early in the spring. On the 

 eastern side, and also in Lancashire, it is less abundant than the 

 Pink-footed Goose ; but elsewhere, and especially in Cornwall, it 

 predominates. On the mainland of Scotland and in some of the 

 islands it is common in cold weather, but its reported occurrence in 

 the Outer Hebrides is unsubstantiated, and to the Orkneys and Shet- 

 lands it is only a straggler. In Ireland, from autumn to spring, it 

 is generally distributed, and is, as a rule, the most abundant of the 

 'Grey' Geese which feed inland. 



The Bean (ioose is only a visitor to Iceland, but it breeds in con- 

 siderable numbers in Scandinavia to the north of lat. 64°, and also 

 in North Russia. Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown found it 

 nesting on the ' tundras ' of the Petchora ; and at Dvoinik, on July 



