276 NATATORES. ANSER. GOOSE. 



can judge from dried skins (never having had the opportu- 

 nity of examining a fresh specimen), to possess all the essen- 

 tial characters, I have accordingly retained it amongst the 

 other species of the genus Anser. It is known in Britain 

 Hare visi- only as a rare visitant, when driven by tempestuous weather 

 out of the usual course of its migrations. But five or six 

 instances of its capture are on record : the first occurred 

 near London in the year 1 776, and the specimen passed into 

 the hands of Mr TUNSTALL, and from it (now in the Mu- 

 seum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne) the figure in the present 

 work has been taken ; in the second instance, this bird was 

 caught alive near Wycliffe, and was kept by the above men- 

 tioned gentleman for some years in confinement ; a third, 

 shot near Berwick-upon-Tweed, was sent to Mr BULLOCK, 

 in whose museum it remained till the dispersion of that cele- 

 brated collection ; the others, according to Mr STEPHENS? 

 were killed in the severe winter of 1813, in Cambridgeshire, 

 but unfortunately, from the ignorance of the captors, were 

 lost to the purposes of science. This species is a native of 

 the Arctic Regions of Northern Asia, and during its polar 

 migration is said to retire to Siberia and the confines of the 

 Frozen Ocean, where it breeds and rears its young. Accord- 

 ing to TEMMINCK, it is abundant about the mouths of the 

 rivers Ob and Lena at the above season. During the winter 

 it migrates southward to the warmer districts of Russia, and 

 to Persia; and is plentiful about the shores of the Caspian 

 Sea, but of very rare occurrence in any part of Europe. I 

 am unable to give any detailed account of its habits, but 

 they may be presumed similar to those of its near allies, the 

 Bernicle and Brent Geese; and that it feeds on vegetable 

 diet appears evident from its flesh being pronounced free 

 from any fishy taste, and in great esteem for the table. 



PLATE 46. Figure of the natural size ; from a specimen ori- 

 ginally in the Wycliffe Museum, but now in that of the 

 Natural History Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



