33 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



A LOST BRITISH GOOSE. 

 At the Leeds Meetiiii^- of the British Association in 1858 

 Strickland read a paper on the ' Long--billed Carr-lat^ Goose,' in 

 uhicli he stated: 'Before the beginnin<j oi' this [nineteenth] 

 centurv, when the carrs ot" Yorkshire were the resort of count- 

 less multitudes and numerous species of wild fowl, g-iving- 

 emplovment to numbers of decoy-men, fowlers, and carr-men, 

 I understand it was stated there were two species of Geese 

 freciuentiniif and breeding in the carrs, known by these people by 

 the name of the Grey-lag- and Carr-lag;. What the Grey-lag was 

 is well known, as, fortunately, that bird retains the name 

 originally g^iven to it by the fowlers. What the Carr-lag- was it 

 is probably impossible now to demonstrate ; but I have every 

 reason to think it was this Long-billed Goose, a bird that 

 resided and bred in the carrs along- with the Grey-lag-, and, like 

 that, is no longer to be found in these districts, and, as far as I 

 know, is not at present to be found in any part of this country, 

 and is now one o'i our scarcest British birds, or almost a lost 

 species. The bird is distinguished from the Bean-Goose by its 

 entirely different luiblts, and, as before stated, by its long- bill. 

 It may be thoug-ht by some that this difference of leng-th may be 

 the result of ag-e ; but this cannot be maintained, as its bill is 

 small and weak, suited to Its aquatic habits, very unlike the 

 short bill of the Bean-Goose, suited to its granivorous and 

 herbivorous feeding-." 



' FOUND AGAIN.' 



Strickland's record appears to have been almost overlooked 

 by ornitholog-ists for another half century, until Mr. F. Coburn, 

 in recently examining- a specimen he secured at St. Abb's Head, 

 in 1896, found that it differed materially from Auser segetum, 

 principallv from its ha\ing- a long neck and swan-like feet. 

 After a very careful inquir}- he is led to the conclusion that the 

 specimen he has secured is no other than the long-lost Aiiser 

 pahidosus described by Strickland. A full account of this dis- 

 covery, apparently the first complete description of the species, 

 appeared in the December Zoologist. 



As the bird seems to have been lost to the ornithological 

 world for a century, the question naturally arises as to where it 

 has survived since? It is to be hoped that collectors having old 

 stuffed specimens will carefully examine them in the hope of 

 establishing an authentic Yorkshire Long-billed Carr-lag Goose. 



1903 February i. C 



