376 



or brownish white, the outer portion of the coverts tinged with bluish ash ; flanks coloured like the 

 back ; rest of the underparts white, the breast and abdomen broadly blotched with black ; bill and legs 

 yellow with an orange tinge, the nail of the bill white ; iris dark brown. Total length about 28'5 inches, 

 culmen 2 - 25, from the edge of the feathering to the tip 8 - 85 ; wing 17'0, tail 6'0, tarsus 2 - 65. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is rather less in size, and has the white on the forehead rather less 

 developed. 



Young (Caspian) . Resembles the adult, but has the white on the forehead considerably less^ developed, the 

 underparts are not blotched with black, and the plumage is in general duller. 



This Goose, like its ally Anser erythropus, passes the summer in the northern portions of the 

 Palsearctic Region, migrating southward during the winter, being met with at that season in 

 North Africa, India, and China. In the Nearctic Region it is replaced by a very closely allied 

 (if indeed distinct) species Anser gambei. 



In Great Britain the present species is only met with during the cold season of the year, 

 generally in very severe weather, and has been observed on almost all parts of our coasts in 

 suitable localities. Mr. Stevenson, who has paid great attention to the occurrences of waterfowl 

 on the east coast, sends me the following notes, which he purposes publishing in the third 

 volume of his ' Birds of Norfolk,' viz. : — " This species, which is never observed in very large 

 flocks, can scarcely be called a regular winter visitant, being rarely seen in our markets, except 

 in severe weather. As an exception, however, to this rule, in the mild winter of 1851-52, as 

 before stated, a very unusual number of wild geese were shot in different ports of the county ; 

 and on the 20th of December the Norwich market exhibited the unusual appearance, amongst 

 other fowl, of two couple and a half of White-fronted, with Bean and Bernacle Geese, from 

 Hickling and other localities; and another White-fronted, from Blakeney, was sent up to Norwich 

 the same day. All these birds were in perfect plumage, the White-fronted Geese, from the 

 markings on the breast, being evidently adult ; but their poor condition seemed to indicate 

 ' hard times,' although the weather was then unusually mild with us, and continued so up to the 

 following February. Only in two or three unusually severe winters have I known wild geese so 

 plentiful as in that exceptional season, when I examined upwards of twenty, of various species, 

 for sale in this city. 



"From Mr. Dowell's notes for the same year (1851), I find that on the 18th of December 

 he saw a flock of some twenty White-fronted Geese at Holkham ; and on the same day he 

 received a fine specimen which had been killed by a gunner at Blakeney. Tbis Goose is con- 

 sidered by Lord Leicester to be rare at Holkham, except in hard weather, when it commonly 

 appears in flocks of from five to ten, and, being less shy, is easier of approach than others. Mr. T. 

 Southwell, in the 'Naturalist' for 1852, recorded several as killed in the neighbourhood of Lynn 

 towards the end of January ; two more were shot at Hickling about the same time ; and in the 

 same journal for 1854 (p. 88) Mr. Southwell described them as unusually plentiful at Lynn in 

 the previous winter. The few recorded in my own note-books since that time have been all 

 killed during sharp frosts, between December and February, which agrees with Hunt's descrip- 

 tion of this species, that ' they visit the fenny parts of this county in small flocks in severe 



