CHEN ALBATUS. 97 



appears to be that " the rufous tint is produced by contact with ferruginous 

 sand." 



In Swainson and Richardson's 'Fauna BoreaU-Americana/ p. 467, it is 

 stated of the Snow-Goose (Anser hyperhoreus, Bonap.J that the young are 

 numerous at Albany Fort, in the southern part of Hudson's Bay, where the 

 old birds are rarely seen ; and, on the other hand, the old birds in their 

 migrations visit York Factory in great abundance, but are seldom accompanied 

 by their young." 



George Shaw, M.D., in his ' General Zoology,' p. 34, says of the Snow- 

 Goose (Anser hyperhorea) : — "In Siberia they form an essential article of 

 subsistence to the natives, each family, it is said, preserving thousands 

 annually^ which, after being plucked and gutted, are thrown in heaps into 

 holes dug for that purpose and covered only with earth ; the mould freezes, 

 and forms over them an arch ; and whenever the family have occasion to open 

 one of these magazines, they find them sweet. According to Pennant's account, 

 the Siberians place near the banks of the rivers a great net in a straight line, 

 or else form a hovel of skins sewed together. This done, one of the company 

 dresses himself in the skin of a white reindeer, advances towards the flock 

 of Geese, and then turns back towards (on all fours) the net or hovel ; and 

 his companions go behind the flock and, by making a noise, drive them 

 forwards. The simple birds mistake the man in white for their leader, and 

 follow him within reach of the net, which is suddenly pulled down, and thus 

 captures the whole. When he chooses to conduct them even into the hovel, 

 they follow in the same manner. He creeps in at a hole left for that 

 purpose, and out at another on the opposite side, which he closes up. The 

 Geese follow him through the first ; and as soon as they are in, he passes 

 round and secures every one of them." 



Mr. Dresser Q Birds of Europe,' part xix.) says of Chen alhatuSy Cassin's 



