192 THE BIEDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



as January, 1888, when a fine example of the dark-bellied race 

 was shot at Standlake, about the middle of the month, after a 

 week of thick foggy weather; it was taken to Mr. Darbey 

 for preservation, and while in his hands was examined in the 

 flesh by Mr. A. H. Macpherson. 



THE CANADA GOOSE. 



Bernicla canadensis. 



The Canada Goose, a native of North America, has been 

 kept in a semi-domesticated condition in England for the last 

 two hundred years, and it is probable that all the numerous 

 examples procured in an apparently wild state are, at the most, 

 descendants of naturalized birds ; but since Yarrell considered 

 it entitled to a place in his work (an opinion not, however, 

 shared by the editor of the last edition), there seems no reason 

 to exclude it entirely from the catalogue of Oxfordshire birds. 

 After all is said against the propriety of its inclusion among 

 the British avifauna, it must be allowed that it stands now on 

 a very similar footing to the Pheasant. 



The several occurrences of this fine goose in Oxfordshire are 

 therefore here enumerated fo r what they are worth. In 

 February, 1838, a male was shot on Port Meadow, and in 

 the winter of 1845 another was killed on Otmoor [Zoologist, 

 p. 2538). There is a specimen in the University Museum, 

 labelled ' Islip, 1 845,'' while another, shot many years ago, in 

 the Cherwell meadows below Banbury, is now preserved in 

 that town. With regard to the latest occurrence of Canada 

 Geese in Oxfordshire, there can be no doubt of their semi- 

 domesticated origin ; on this occasion, as he late Rev. T. W. 

 Falcon wrote me word, thirty -two appeared on Otmoor in the 

 severe frost of 1 878-9. He writes, — ^ They were not truly wild, 

 and my unconscionable neighbours secured twenty-eight of 

 them. The survivors are now wild enough.'' The heaviest of 

 these weighed fourteen pounds. 



