ANATID.S— SWANS. 197 



into some British lists because often found at large, especially during 

 winter. It has no right to a place on the British list. Probably those 

 which occur in Essex from time to time have escaped from Kimberley 

 or Gunton in Norfolk, at both of which places Mr. Gurney informs me 

 a good many are bred annually. " After being once shot at these go 

 awa}', and no doubt some of them leave the county. Others remain at 

 large, and are quite unapproachable." Mr. Clarke mentions (24) an ex- 

 ample (still in the Walden Museum) killed at Radwinter on Apr. 24th, 

 1836. Four were seen at Harwich on June 27th, 1877 (Kerry — 40. i. 

 525). Early in December, 1879, one, weighing twelve and a half pounds, 

 was shot out of a group of six, by Mr. J. J. Hawkins, near Middle 

 Wycke, Burnham (^Chelmsford Chronicle^ Dec. 12) ; and about the middle 

 of the same month, during a spell of severe weather, a flock passed 

 over the Maldon district (^C/ielinsford Chronicle, Dec. 26). Dr. Bree 

 records one (29), shot on the seashore at Wix, where it was feeding 

 alone, on the long-to-be-remembered i8th of Jan., 188 1. He adds that 

 " it cost the shooter a severe frost-bite of the ends of his ten fingers," 

 and that it had probably escaped from some ornamental water. At 

 Harwich, " some are seen nearly every year " (_Kerry).] 



Red-breasted Goose : Bernicla ruficoUis. 

 A very rare straggler to Great Britain, of which a single specimen 

 happens to have been killed in our county. 



Mr. Harting has recorded (34. 2513 : & 29. Jan. 21, & Feb. 4), that a speci- 

 men was shot out of a flock of Brent Geese at MalJon, on Jan. 6th, 1871, and 

 added to his Collection. The sex was not ascertained. This is the twelfth 

 and last recorded British specimen, and the first met with since 1845.* Mr. E. A. 

 Fitch, who has taken some trouble to investigate the histor}^ of this specimen, 

 ■writes (50. iii. 35) : — 



" It was on Jan. 6th, 1871, that Henry Handley, with his brother John, Josiah 

 Pitt, John Basham, and seven others, were gunning on the Ray Sands, popularly 

 •called the 'Main,' when amongst a quantity of Black (Brent) Geese they shot 

 one of the rare Red-breasted species (Bernicla ruficoUis). It was shot off the 

 south part of the Bachelor Spit — in the bight of the Bachelor — and was picked 

 up, winged, by Josiah Pitt. The birds were brought home and given to Henry 

 Handle}' to hawk round the town of Maldon, as was his wont, at two shillings 

 each, but nobody would have the ' foreigner,' so Handley had resort to Robert 

 Blanks, a local bird-stuffer, now deceased, and, after abating sixpence off his two 

 shillings, sold it to him. Blanks set up the bird and took it to Mr. Richard 

 Poole, who identified it by Yarrell as the Red-breasted Goose, and wrote to the 

 Editor of the Field, asking what it was worth. Mr. Harting replied that he 

 would willingly give five pounds for the bird, should it prove to belong to the 

 species represented. Blanks, of course, was willing to sell at this (to him) 

 enormous price, and the specimen became Mr. Harting's property. When this 

 gentleman parted with all his birds that were stuffed and set up, limiting his Col- 

 lection to skins only, the specimen was knocked down at Stevens' Rooms on the 

 '6th of June, 1872, for ;^3i los., to John Marshall, Esq., of Belmont, Taunton, in 

 whose possession it still remains [37. iv. 282]." 



Mute SWan : Cygnus olor. Locally, " Tame Swan." 

 Common in a more or less domesticated state on ornamental 

 waters. It has been admitted to the British list for many years, but 



* It is worth mention that Montagu fp. 127) says:-" One, Dr. Latham informs us \Syn. 

 vi., p. 455], was shot near London [very likely in Essex] in the severe frost of 1766." Hartins 

 says (38. 156) that "according to Fox {Synop. Ncwc. Mas.), this date should be 1776." 



