LESSER SNOW-GOOSE AND SNOW-GOOSE. 491 



British Islands by Mr. Howard Saunders, who purchased in Leadenhall 

 Market, on the 9th of November 1871, two immature examples which 

 had been shot a few days before on the Lake of Tacumshane, on the south 

 coast of co. Wexford. On inquiry being made into the circumstances 

 of the capture, it was further elicited that a third example had been shot, 

 but had not been preserved (Saunders, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872, p. 519). 

 Five years later a flock of seven Snow-Geese was seen on some marshy 

 ground in Termoncarra, in the Barony of Erris, co. Mayo, about the end of 

 October, of which one was shot and another, a male, was trapped (Harting, 

 ' Zoologist, 1878, p. 419) . The latter bird eventually paired with a Common 

 Goose and brought up a brood. Upon the death of this bird it was stuffed, 

 and is the subject from which the drawing in the fourth edition of YarrelFs 

 ' British Birds ' was made. It is said that two Snow-Geese which had 

 been kept with a flock of tame Geese in Ireland were afterwards placed in 

 Lord Derby's Aviary at Knowsley, and were sold by auction in 1851 to 

 Mr. Castaug, the well-known bird-dealer ; but there is not sufficient evi- 

 dence to show that the birds had not been imported. 



The larger race of Snow-Goose is at present only known to breed in 

 Hudson's Bay Territory; but as flocks have been seen on migration and 

 individuals occasionally obtained both in North Europe and in Siberia, it 

 seems probable that it may breed on some of the islands in the Arctic 

 Ocean near those continents. It winters in the United States as far south 

 as Texas, and several examples are recorded from the Bermudas. It is an 

 occasional straggler to Greenland, and migratory parties or flocks not un- 

 frequently occur in various parts of the Palsearctic Region from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific. It is seen more or less regularly in Russia and Japan ; but 

 elsewhere its occurrence appears to be exceptional. The smaller^ race is 

 only known to breed in the Arctic regions of North-west America, migrating 

 southwards in winter as far as California and the valley of the Mississippi ; 

 but as all the British examples appear to belong to this race, its breeding- 

 range is probably much more extensive. The fact that small birds are seen 

 in the flocks of Snow- Geese in Japan suggests the probability that both 

 forms breed in Siberia. 



During the breeding-season the Snow-Goose is exclusively an Arctic 

 bird, frequenting the tundras above the limit of forest-growth, feeding on 

 the grass that grows on the margins of the rivers and lakes, and on the 

 berries of the various ground-fruits which are preserved during the winter 

 under the snow. They probably vary this diet with mollusks and water- 

 insects. MacFarlane found their nests on an island on the shores of the 

 Arctic Ocean near the mouth of the Anderson River. The nests were mere 

 hollows in the sandy soil, plentifully lined with down and probably with 

 dead grass. The colour of the eggs is described as of a uniform dirty 

 chalky white, and the size as averaging 3'4 inch in length and 2*2 inch in 



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