THE CANADA GOOSE. 25 



argument against the birds which have been shot on the coast, 

 having migrated thither. 



Notes upon their occurrence are as follow : — 



February 1 , 1838. Tour Canada geese appeared, most appro- 

 priately, on the pond in the Phoenix Park, DubKn, which may be 

 called the aquatic menagerie of the Eoyal Zoological Garden. 

 About the end of April the same year, one was shot at the low 

 hne of coast called the Murrough of Wicklow ; and about the 

 same time a second was procured, in the vicinity of Rathmines, 

 not far from Dublin. Both birds are stated to have been very 

 wary, unlike individuals which had escaped from confinement. 



In Jpril, 1839, one was shot in Larne Lough, county of 

 Antrim : — it is preserved in the Ordnance Museum. 



January 27, 1840. I learned, by letter from Dr. C. Farran, 

 that he received at this date, from Mr. John King, Bremore, 

 Balbriggan (county Dublin), a Canada goose, which he shot, 

 after sedulously watching the bird for two or three days. He at 

 last got within reach of it, on a small pool of fresh water, near 

 the shore, during a gale from the south-east. The bird was in 

 rather poor condition, and weighed S^ lbs. 



June 12, 1844. A pair were shot at Dundrum, on the coast 

 of Down. The male bird weighed 13, the female lO-i, lbs. A 

 fowler saw a pair, and perhaps the same, in Belfast bay, a few- 

 days before the birds were killed at Dundrum. The specimens 

 were preserved for the Marquis of Downshire, and came under 

 my inspection when in the hands of the taxidermist : the wings 

 of both were quite perfect. 



According to the Annual Eeport of the Dubhn Natural History 

 Society for 1848, ''Mr. E. P. Williams presented to the Society a 

 fine specimen of the Canada goose {Anas Canadensis), shot by 

 Mr. El. Quin, of Firgrove, Innishannon, on the Bandon river, 

 between that place and Kinsale, in March, 1846. It appeared 

 in a flock with five others, after a severe snow-storm. Mr. Quin 

 had observed a flock of the same birds in the preceding winter, 

 but imagined that they had escaped from some neighbouring 

 l)reserve." 



