BIRDS OF KOLGUEV 423 



ANATID^ 

 Anser albifrons (scopoli). White-fronted Goose. 

 Kazarka (R.). Seer-grim (S.). 



Among the many white-fronted geese brought in by the natives, I 

 aever saw a single individual which I could refer to the smaller race 

 A. Erythropus L. There was certainly some variation in size, but I 

 have no doubt that, like the specimens which I brought back, they all 

 belonged to the larger form. The white-fronted on Kolguev was far 

 more wary than the bean goose. A sitting bird would not allow you to 

 get within gunshot before she left her eggs. I may at once say that I 

 never myself identified this bird at the nest, though I have no doubt what- 

 ever, in my own mind, that one of the nests we came across during our 

 walk across the island belonged to this species. The four eggs, slightly 

 smaller and rounder than those of the bean, and also of a clearer creamy 

 white, exactly agreed with some brought to me with the old birds by 

 Mekolka the Samoyed. I have reason to believe that, while the bean 

 goose is pretty generally distributed over the whole island, the white- 

 fronted affects rather the north-eastern district. 



On Kolguev this species moulted rather later than the bean. Of 

 those we took at the goosing on July 18 none had lost their primaries, 

 and I saw many on the wing. I have described elsewhere in this book 

 the habits of the young bird in the down, which we kept for a few days 

 alive. They did not bring their young down to the sea as early as the 

 bean, but kept them to the lakes. 



A. segetum (j. f. gmelin.) Bean Goose. 

 Gummenik Nemock (R.). 



This is the grey goose of Kolguev. In numbers it exceeds the 

 white-fronted goose by at least three to one. We saw some individuals 

 in which both the yellow of the bill and of the feet very strongly inclined 

 to pink ; so much so that I could understand an observer who was not 

 acquainted with the marked difference between the character oi the 

 head in this and the pink-foot, mistaking these for individuals of the 

 latter species. A few of these birds had moulted their wing-feathers on 



