42 ANATID/E. 



The geographical distribution of this bird has yet to be ascertained. 

 It was first described in 1833 from a specimen proem^ed in the north 

 of France, and has since been noticed in Holland and Belgium.* 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Laughing Goose. 



Anser albifrons, Gmel. (sp.) 

 Anas „ „ 



„ eryth'opus, Linn. 



Is a regular winter visitant to Ireland ; 



Where, as in Great Britain, it is, next to the beau goose, the 

 species most frequently met with. About Belfast this bird, is 

 little known; occasionally — not so often as every winter — one or 

 two are brought on sale to the town. One was noted, on account 

 of the rarity of its appearance under such circumstances, as kiUed 

 on the 26th October, 1822, by a wigeon-shooter from his barrel, 

 near Conswater, Belfast Bay, as he was awaiting the flying of 

 these birds: it was accompanied by two others; its weight was 

 five pounds, the irides of a hazel-colour. A young bird of the 

 year, killed at Strangford Lough on the 19th December, 1834, 

 came under my inspection, as did two others obtained there on the 

 12th, and a third on the 30th of January, 1836. About the 1st 

 of December, 1844, two of these birds, of which the black-barred 

 bellies, marking the species, were distinctly seen by my orni- 

 thological informant, flew low over the shore of Belfast Bay, 

 proceeding in a southerly direction. 



Like aU the geese, this species soon becomes familiar, and 

 sometimes even bold. An iimnature one, brought from North 

 America and sent to the Belfast Botanic Garden, was particularly 

 fond of human society, probably from the kindness it had expe- 

 rienced on shipboard, and would at all times leave its pond to join 

 men at work in the vicinity. But its gala day was when a military 



* De Selys, ' Fauuc Beige,' p. 138. 



