'J* MADAGASCAR BEIIXICLE. 



and the breast are bright red : a band of black ex- 

 tends the entire length of the hinder part of the 

 neck : the greater wing-coverts -are tipped with white : 

 the legs are black. 



This beautiful bird inhabits the arctic countries of 

 Asia, living on the borders of the Frozen Ocean : it 

 appears periodically in Russia, and occasionally in 

 Germany and other European countries. In Eng- 

 land four or five specimens only are recorded to have 

 been killed or taken, one of which was shot near 

 London in the severe frost of 1766 ; a second cap- 

 tured near Wycliffe, in Yorkshire, and the rest in 

 various counties. The Wycliffe bird was kept there 

 for several years in a pond amongst the tame Ducks, 

 and became quite tame and familiar. There is a fine 

 specimen in the British Museum of recent capture; 

 and in the severe winter of 1813, three or four spe- 

 cimens were killed in Cambridgeshire, but, unfor- 

 tunately for the scientific naturalist, cooks not being 

 always ornithologists, the birds in question were sacri- 

 ficed to the spit. This species is said to be quite 

 free from any fishy taste. 



MADAGASCAR BEUNICLE. 



(Bernicla Madagascariensis ) 



BE. obscure viridis, Jade ultra ocu/os gula abdomineque albis, 

 jugulo imo peciorc lateribusque Jerrugineis Jiisco undulatis, 

 infra aurcx macula ovala viridi. 



