538 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



coverts ash-grey ; iris dark brown ; eyelids whitish ; feet purple or orange-red ; soles of the feet 

 dingy yellow. Length 23 in. [584 mm.]. The sexes are alike, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This small form of snowgoose breeds in Arctic eastern Asia and western 

 Arctic America ; in Asia commonly from 165 8' E. long, eastward, apparently also in the New 

 Siberian Isles, the estuaries of the Lena, Yana, etc. ; and in N. America chiefly north of the 

 Arctic Circle in Alaska, the Barren grounds of the lower Mackenzie, and Liverpool Bay. In 

 America it migrates south along the western side to Lower California and Mexico, while in 

 Asia it ranges south to Japan, and occurs not uncommonly on the Caspian and the Volga, while 

 stragglers have occurred in Norway, Germany, Heligoland, France, Holland, Greece, and a good 

 many have been observed, and about seven obtained, in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



GREATER-SNOWGOOSE [Anser hyperboreus nivdlis Forsterj. 



1. Description. Similar to the snowgoose, but larger, having a total length of 33 to 36 in. 

 [838-914 mm.], a bill of 2| in., a wing of 17| in., a tail of 6 in., and the tarsus from 3J to 3 in. 

 Otherwise it exactly resembles the last-named species, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. It seems probable that this race breeds in Northern Greenland, and also 

 on Southampton Island and in James Bay, Hudson's Bay, Ellesmere Land, etc., but when Arctic 

 America is more fully explored probably its breeding range will be found to be widely extended 

 over the north-east. It migrates south through eastern North America as far as Louisiana, 

 Florida, Texas, Porto Rico, and Cuba, and as a casual visitor has once occurred in Ireland 

 (Co. Mayo, 1886). [F. c. R. J.] 



REDBREASTED-GOOSE [Brdnta ruficdllis Pallas ; Bemicla ruficollis Pallas. French, bemache 

 d, cou roux ; German, Rotkals-Gans]. 



1. Description. Distinguished at a glance by its strongly contrasted plumage of black, 

 red, and white. The sexes are alike in coloration, but the female is smaller. Length 21 in. 

 [533 mm.]. The general coloration may be described as black, enlivened on the head with a 

 large patch of white in front of the eye, and a large white area extending from the hinder half 

 of the head down each side of the neck, in the centre 1 of which is a patch of rich chesnut ; the 

 back of the neck is black, the lower part of the neck and the prepectoral area are of a rich 

 chesnut, set off by a circular white band, sharply dividing the red from the black areas ; a 

 white band runs along the top of the flanks, and the upper and under tail-coverts and abdomen 

 are white ; iris hazel ; beak, legs, and toes black, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in western Arctic Asia from the lower Ob to the Yenisei and 

 Taimyr Peninsula. It has occurred in North Russia (Novaya Zemlia, Archangel, and Lapland), 

 and migrates up the valleys of the Ob, Irtysh, and Ural to the Kirghis steppes, Syr Darya, the 

 lower Volga, Turkestan, Transcaucasia, and the southern Caspian and Aral Seas. It has also 

 occurred at Irkutsk ; and in Europe not only passes through N. Russia, but stragglers have 

 occurred in Italy, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, about seven times 

 in England, and has also visited Egypt. [F. c. R. j.] 



LIGHTBREASTED-BRENT-GOOSE [Brdnta bernicla glaucogdstra (Brehm)]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the typical form Branta bernicla (see vol. iv. p. 158) 

 only by the lighter colour of the belly and the pearl-grey instead of brown-grey flanks. The 

 general tint of the upper parts is, moreover, somewhat lighter, [w. p. p. and T. \v.] 



2. Distribution. This form of the brent breeds in the Arctic islands of north-eastern North 

 America, from the west coast of Greenland west to about long. 100 W. in the Parry group, and 

 north of about lat. 73 to as far as land is known to extend. It certainly breeds in Ellesmere 



