PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 153 



was probably due to two geese laying in one nest. When fresh laid they are a dull 

 yellowish white, but soon become stained by the sitting bird. Incubation is per- 

 formed by the female alone, and lasts 28 days. (Plate S.) Average size of 111 

 eggs, 3-43 x 2-3 in. [87*1 x 58-5 mm.]. The eggs are generally laid in Scotland by 

 the middle of April, occasionally not till the end of the month, and only a single 

 brood is reared in the season. In Northern Europe fresh eggs may be found as late 

 as the end of May or even early in June. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Corn in cultivated districts, grass, and roots, and the tender 

 shoots of water-plants. The young feed on bog-nuts and various water-plants, 

 as well as on aquatic insects, and are accompanied by both parents, [w. P. p.] 



WHITEFRONTED-GOOSE [Anser dlbifrons (Scopoli). Grey-goose 

 (generic), laughing goose (Devon). French, oie rieuse ; German, Bldssen- 

 Gans ; Italian, oca lombardella]. 



1. Description. In the whitefronted-goose the beak is of a pale rose-pink 

 colour, and the nail white ; a more or less conspicuous patch of orange-yellow occurs 

 on the culmen, between the nares, and on the sides of the lower jaw, and the legs 

 are orange-yellow. (PI. 152.) Length 27 in. [685-0 mm.]. A broad band of white, 

 bordered behind with black, surrounds the base of the beak. The upper parts are 

 of a dark greyish brown, paler on the crown and cheeks, while the scapular, inter- 

 scapular, wing-coverts, and flank feathers are tipped with greyish white, and the 

 secondaries edged with greyish white. The upper tail-coverts are white. The 

 fore-breast is pale ash-grey, the breast white with irregular bars or patches of black 

 increasing in size with age ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white. The female 

 is rather smaller than the male. In young birds the beak is dark grey, tinged with 

 pink, the nail greyish white, while the black bars on the breast are slightly developed. 

 In the juvenile plumage a black frontal band takes the place of the black and 

 white band of the adult, the belly is light grey with dusky spots. The beak is 

 grey tinged with flesh colour, and the nail is grey, while all the feathers are much 

 narrower than in the adult. Young in down dark grey. [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. This species is only a winter visitor to our islands, and 

 its breeding grounds lie in the Far North. It has not been found nesting in Scandi- 

 navia, but according to Goebel it breeds in Russian Lapland, and also nests on 

 Kolguev, Novaya Zemlya, the Kola and Kamir Peninsulas ; while in Asia its breed- 

 ing range includes the lower Ob and Yenisei, the Taimyr, Great Liakoff Isles, and the 



VOL. IV. U 



