SNOW-GOOSE 65 



differs markedly in plumage from the members of the 

 Genera, Anser and Bernicla. Thus, from other Wild 

 Geese it is readily distinguishable, but at a distance it might 

 be mistaken for a tame white Domestic Goose. As a British 

 bird the Snow-Goose is very rare ; it has occurred chiefly 

 along the coast during the autumn migration. In his 

 ' Letters to Young Shooters ' Sir E. Payne-Gall wey mentions 

 that he saw, during the severe winter of 1890-1891, five 

 Snow-Geese fly past him along the coast near Berwick-on- 

 Tweed. The same writer also observed three others at 

 Berkely in Yorkshire during successive winters, in company 

 with a large ' gaggle ' of White-fronted Geese, but none 

 of them were obtained. 



During the same winter, Snow-Geese were recorded 

 from Cumberland and Northumberland. 



In Ireland, the occurrence of the Snow-Goose was first 

 made known by Mr. H. Saunders, who records three shot 

 on the Wexford coast, two of which were procured (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc., 1872, p. 59). This species has visited Ireland on 

 a few other occasions. There are two interesting records 

 from Belmullet, co. Mayo, concerning which Mr. Ussher 

 writes : " In the Zoologist, 1878, p. 419, the Editor, Mr. 

 Harting, records the appearance of seven Snow-Geese, 

 which were seen on marshy ground in Termoncarra, near 

 Belmullet, co. Mayo, about the end of October 1877 ; one 

 was wounded and used as a decoy, by which a second was 

 trapped. The latter proved to be a gander and was easily 

 tamed ; he then assumed the leadership of a flock of 

 domestic geese, taking them long distances in the mornings 

 and returning every evening to the yard where they were 

 kept ; he mated with one of them and goslings were reared ; 

 but after he had thus lived until April 1884, he was killed 

 with a stone, when the owner, Mr. J. E. Crampton, pre- 

 sented the specimen to the Dublin Museum, where it is 

 preserved. The bird that was wounded in 1877 died after 

 six weeks, and was not preserved. 



"In the end of September 1886 Mr. H. Blake Knox 

 received another specimen from a son of one of his tenants 

 living near Belmullet, who shot it as it flew past his house. 

 Mr. Blake Knox has preserved this bird, and has kindly 

 lent it to me ; it is of larger size than Mr. Crampton's 

 specimen in our Museum. It was exhibited by Dr. H. B. 

 Sharpe at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, 

 on 22nd November 1899, and proves to be of the larger 

 race, Chen nivalis (Forster)." (' Birds of Ireland,' p. 180.) 

 5 



