CHEN. BRANTA. 161 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Rare Visitor : one 

 example was obtained in Ireland, at Belmullet, co. Mayo, in 

 Oct. 1886. 



General Distribution. The Greater Snow-Goose breeds in 

 Greenland and Ellesmere Land, Arctic North America. In 

 winter it visits the United States, east of the Mississippi, 

 southwards to Florida and Porto Rico. 



The claims of this larger race to distinction do not seem as 

 yet very well established. 



Genus BRANTA Scopoli, Ann. i. Hist. Nat. 1769, p. 67. 

 Type : B. bernicla (Linn.) . 



Branta, a mediaeval word found in Gesner, probably the same as our 

 " Brent " (i. e. Burnt Goose) from its charred appearance. 



Branta bernicla. BRENT GOOSE. 



Anas bernicla Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 124 : Sweden. 



Bernicla brenta (Pall.*); B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 117; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 411. 

 Branta bernicla (Linn.} ; Salvadori, Gat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 1895, 



p. 119 (part.)- 



Bernicla, of uncertain derivation, possibly connected with barnacles, from 

 which these Geese were fabled to grow. 



Distribution in tlie British Islands. A Winter Visitor, 

 numerous in the Shetlands and Orkneys ahd on the east and 

 south coasts of Great Britain. In the Hebrides and on the 

 western shores it is much less numerous and more irregular. 

 It is very common on the coasts of Ireland, and is seldom 

 met \\ith on inland waters unless wounded. 



General Distribution. The Brent Goose breeds in Kolguev, 

 Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and Spitsbergen, and 

 probably also in north Russia on the tundra of the Kanin 

 Peninsula and Yalmal. In Asia it nests near the mouth 

 of the Yenesei and on the Taimyr Peninsula. In winter it 



M 



