1872.] MR. HOWARD SAUNDERS ON ANSER ALBATUS. 519 



5. On the Introduction of Anser albatus of Cassin into the 

 British Avifauna. By Howard Saunders, F.Z.S. 



[Received March 18, 1872.] 



On the 9th November last my attention was called to two Geese 

 in Loadenhall Market ; and subsequently I purchased them, one for 

 Mr. R. B. Sharpe, and the other for myself. They had both been 

 recently shot, the blood and slime being still moist in the wounds, 

 bill, and nostrils. The vendor, with whom I have dealt for some years, 

 did not pretend to know any thing about the locality where they were 

 obtained, but referred me to the wholesale dealer from whom he had 

 purchased them. This dealer, Mr. Miller, at once showed me the 

 invoice, specifying so many head of poultry and "two birds" for- 

 warded to him three days previously by a poultry-dealer named Ellen 

 Neill, of the Fay the, Wexford, Ireland. The Faythe is a suburb 

 where the wild-fowl-shooters reside ; and as it was certain that the 

 birds had not been frozen, or even sent over in ice, there seemed to 

 be no reason to doubt that they had really been killed in that district. 

 Of course I at once wrote for particulars ; but failed to elicit any di- 

 rect reply. I subsequently gave the necessary details to Sir Victor 

 Brooke, who kindly took a great interest in the matter, and, on the 

 occasion of my reading this paper, has put into my hand a letter 

 just received, and I am thus enabled to quote in its proper place this 

 most valuable corroborative evidence. 



" Wexford, March 14th, 1872. 

 "I have succeeded in tracing the Geese referred to. They were 

 shot by a boy on the lake of Tacumshane, on the south coast of this 

 county, and were the only ones which appeared there ; but there was 

 a third one subsequently shot in Wexford Harbour. So far as I have 

 been able to learn, no others like them have been seen here ; but I 

 shall try and find out more about this. They had been swimming 

 about on the lake (or lough) for some days before they were shot ; 

 and the lake adjoins the sea, from which it is only separated by a 

 narrow ridge of sand, and it would probably be one of the first places 

 birds would make if coming from seaward. I am sorry for the delay 

 in replying to your letters ; but it was only to day I was able to do so, 

 as Mrs. Neill is only a poultry-dealer, and not particular in inquiring 

 where the birds she buys come from. ( , Y „ 



"(Signed) Sim Little." 



The stomachs of these birds contained nothing but a little grit, 

 some of which I have preserved. On dissection they proved to be 

 male and female, and from their plumage are evidently birds of the 

 year. The sternum of each, and the trachea of the female, have been 

 carefully preserved, the trachea of the male having been shattered by 

 shot. 



The following is the description taken before the birds were 



