ANSER FERUS. D09 
§ 5400. Two. : 
Sutherland, 1850. From Mr. W. Dunbar. 
§ 5401. Zio. 
With these Mr. Dunbar wrote from Loch Inver, 29 June, 1850 :— 
““T am convinced that the Bean-Goose breeds on Loch Shin, and 
only on Loch Shin in this country, so far as I am aware. I have 
seen several Grey Lags, but not one Bean in this district [Loch 
Inver], so very positive am I that they are the Bean Goose on Loch 
Shin, and also the Grey Lag ; but the former are much more scarce. 
I believe there are not half a dozen Bean-Geese’s nests on the whole 
of Loch Shin; but that they are or were there no person can 
convince me to the contrary, as I have taken the eggs and killed the 
birds myself.” 
[The first two of the above (§ 5400) were sent as Bean-Goose, and therefore 
must have been from Loch Shin. Mr. Wolley remarks of them “these are 
probably Grey Lag.” Subsequently he received a letter dated Lairg Cottage, 
24 March, 1852, from Mr. John Ferguson, before mentioned (anted p. 506), 
who wrote :— | 
“T am now able to give my opinion about the Geese by examining 
and enquiring about them, and I find that there is only the Grey- 
legged Goose breeding on the islands and banks of the Shin. Nor 
can I find any trace of the Bean-Goose breeding anywhere in 
Sutherland. As to give the correct number of the Geese breeding: 
on the banks of Loch Shin, it is impossible ; but it is supposed there 
are from twenty to thirty pairs. I should have written sooner, but 
[I have been] always putting off the time for further search and 
enquiry.” 
[To this Mr. Wolley adds :— 
In 1849 I called Ferguson’s attention to the subject. I wrote to 
him some weeks ago to ask for the results of his more extended 
experience. From what I have been able to gather of the relative 
values of Dunbar’s assertion, Mr. Selby’s and Mr. St. John’s and 
Mr. Milner’s authorities, I do not feel that there is any probability 
that the Bean-Goose has bred in Sutherland at all. Mr. Milner’s 
and Mr. St. John’s authorities are certainly fallacious. Mr. Selby 
and his party did not get a [mature] bird. Mr. Wilson, who was of 
their party, tells me they might easily be mistaken, and as to Dunbar 
I remember that he had a “ Yarrell”; and I remember his Red- 
throated for Black-throated Diver, 
