476 LAMELLIROSTKAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



instance of its actual occurrence. Audubon himself never met with it; lait single 

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



Mr. Selby sjieaks of it as a regular winter visitant of Great Britain, and says that 

 it comes, upou the approach of autumn, in vast numbers to the western shores of 

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

 cashire, frequenting the marshy grounds that are occasionally covered by the spring 

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

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

 It may be shot by moonlight, when it comes upon the sands to feed, by persons 

 crouching on the ground, or from behind some shelter, in such places as the flocks are 

 known to frequent. Its flesh is said to be sweet and tender, and is highly esteemed 

 for the table. On the approach of spring it departs for more northern countries, and 

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

 familiar as the Domestic Goose, adapting itself to confinement, 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 liroods 

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

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

 the eggs laid in St. James's Park were white, and measured 2.75 inches iu length by 

 1.87 inches in breadth. 



]\Ir. Dunn states tliat this Goose migrates in vast numbers along the western 

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

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

 supposed breeding-place. It appears in vast numbers on the coast of Scona, in Octo- 

 ber and November, and is reported as visiting the Faroe 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.S7 inches iu length, by 1.87 inches in breadth, and as 

 being of a uniform yellowish cream-color. 



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

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

 beginning of August. 



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

 northern Tundras, or Barrens. Mr. 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 those of the Anser minutus, but are smaller. It does not 

 breed in any part of Scandinavia. 



Genus PHILACTE, Bannister. 



" CMcephaga," Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 768 (not of Eyton, 1838). 



Philactc, Bannist. Pr. Pliilad. Acad. 1870, 131 (type, Anas canagim, Sevast.). 



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

 of ovu- Geese in the pecuhar form of the l.iill. Tliis member is unusually .short, with very large, 

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

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



