476 



LAMELLIROSTJtAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



i 





instance of its actual occurrence. Audubon hiuisclt' never mot with it; luit single 

 specimens have more recently been secured in Vermont, and near New York City. 



Mr. Selby sjjcaks of it as a regular winter visitant of (Ircat Britain, and says that 

 it comes, upon tlie approach of autumn, in vast muubers to the western shores of 

 that country, and to tht' north of Ireland. It is very abundant on the coast of Lan- 

 cashire, frequenting the nuirshy grounds that are occasionally covered by tlie spring 

 tides, and such sands as produce the sea-grasses and jdants upon Avhich it feeds. It 

 is a very wary bird, and can be approached only by the most cautious manoeuvres. 

 It nuiy be shot by juoonliglit, when it comes up(in tlu! sands to feed, by persons 

 crouching on the ground, or from behind some slieltei, in such ])l;ices as the flocks are 

 known to frecpient. Its llesh is said to be sweet ami tender, and is highly esteemed 

 for the cable. On the approach of spring it departs for nu)re northern countries, and 

 by the middle of Marcli none are left behind. "When made captive it soon becomes as 

 familiar as the Domestic Goose, adajjting itself to eonlinement, and breeding readily. 

 It has been known to mate with the White-fronted Goose, and to hatch out a brood. 

 Small flocks have been kept for several seasons in St. James's Park ; and young broods 

 were hatched in 1844, and again in 1845. IJroods have also been raised on the 

 grounds of Mr. A. W. Austin, near Boston, in Lincolnshire. Mr. Yarrell states that 

 the eggs laid in St. Janu's's I'ark were white, and measured 2.75 inches in hnigth by 

 1.87 inches in breadth. 



]Mr. Dunn states that this Goose migrates in vast numbers along the western 

 coast of Norway, from the Naze of Norway northward, Avhere it generally seems to 

 make the land after leaving the Danish coast. The shores of the AVhite Sea are its 

 supi^osed breeding-place. It appears in vast numbers on the coast of Scona, in (;)cto- 

 ber ami November, and is reported as visiting the Fariie Islands and Iceland. During 

 its migrations it is said to be abundant in Holland, France, and Germany. 



Mr. Audubon describes its eggs, from specimens in the Museum of the University 

 of Edinburgh, as measuring 2.87 inches in length, by 1.87 inches in breadth, and as 

 being of a uniform yellowish cream-color. 



Professor iMalmgren states (" Ibis," 1869) that this species is certainly an inhab- 

 itant of Spitzbergen. Many were seen in Advent Bay, and one Avas killed in the 

 beginning of August. 



Middendorff gives it as occurring, during the breeding-season, in Siberia, in the 

 northern Tundras, or Barrons. j\Ir. H. Saunders met with a single specimen of 

 this species in Spain, near Seville. It was shot in the " marisma " (lagoon), in the 

 southern part of the kingdom. 



Mr. Wheelwright states it to be only a bird of passage through Scandinavia, going 

 to and from its breeding haunts. The eggs in his collection, he mentions, bear a 

 very close resemblance to tho.-<e of the Anser minutus, but are smaller. It does not 

 breed in any part of Scandinav.a. 



Genus FHILACTES, Bannister. 



" CMmphagn ," rsAiim, B. N. Am. 1858, 768 (not of Eyton, 1838). 



Philacte, Bansist. Pi'. Philail. Acad. 1870, 131 (typn. Aims canagica, Sevast.). 



Char. This genus, the most distinct among the North American Anseres, differs from all other 

 of our Geese in the peculiar form of the hill. This member is unusually short, with A'ery large, 

 broad, and thick nails, which occupy neorly the terminal third of the bill. The nasal cavity is 

 very large, broadly ovate, and distinctly defined, its posterior end nearly or quite touching the 



