Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam, 357 



supposed Swans, forming themselves into one long line, flew right round 

 about him, passing at a distance of perhaps a couple of hundred yards. 

 The day was quite clear, and he had then no difficulty in seeing that the 

 whole plumage of the birds was snowy white, with the exception of the 

 outer half of their wings, which appeared to be black, and which, by 

 contrast with the white feathers, showed up very dark and distinct. 



The birds rose at first rather heavily from the ground, their flight 

 afterwards closely resembling that of Bean Geese ; in size they appeared 

 to be rather larger than that species, and the neck carried, of course, 

 straight out in front, seemed to be somewhat longer. 



My brother was at this time ignorant of the existence of the Snow 

 Goose, or of its being an occasional visitor to this country ; and when he 

 told me next morning of what he had seen, was still rather under the 

 impression that the birds might have been some kind of Swans with 

 which he was not acquainted. From his clear description, however, I had 

 little doubt that they could have been anything else than Snow Geese, and 

 a glance at the plates and letterpress of "Yarrell" and " Bree," 

 quickly convinced him that the birds he had seen were really of this 

 species. 



In order, if possible, to put the matter beyond dispute by shooting one 

 of the birds, my brother re-visited Holy Island on the 6th of January ; but 

 though the greater part of the day was spent in keeping a sharp look-out 

 and many flocks of Ducks and Grey Geese were upon the move, it was not 

 until rather late in the afternoon that a single, suspiciously white-looking 

 Goose appeared. The weather had now, however, become rather dull ; and 

 as the bird merely flew past at a considerable distance out to sea, no very 

 satisfactory view of it could be obtained, and except that the plumage 

 showed distinctly white, nothing positive could be noted. 



On the 9th January, he was again upon the sand ridges, when although 

 nothing more was seen of the flock, another single bird appeared, and 

 this time fortunately passed so close to where he lay concealed, that both 

 with t lie naked eye and by the help of his glass, my brother had a most 

 capital view of it, and was able to make himself quite certain that the bird 

 was really a Snow Goose. The plumage, except the broad black tips to 

 the wings, was again pure white, and the flight, as before, bore a strong 

 resemblance to that of a Bean Goose. 



At intervals of a few days, several other visits were paid to Holy 

 Island, but nothing further was seen of the birds, nor were we able to 

 hear that they had been met with by any of the local shooters. Actnal 

 proof of the visit of the Snow Goose to Northumberland by the production 

 of a specimen, is therefore wanting : but my brother is so well acquainted 

 with the birds usually mot with upon our shores, and his description of 

 the geese seen was so clear, that I should have had little hesitation in 

 recording, from his observation alone, a visit of Chen hyperboreus to this 

 country. Confirmation however, to a certain extent at anyrate, was 

 forthcoming in the course of the next few days, in the shape of letters to 

 the Field, from people who had seen similar birds in other parts of the 



It 



