385 



2nd November 1863. I do not find it recorded from the Lower Danube, where it doubtless 

 occurs on passage ; but the Marquis Antinori remarks (J. f. 0. 1858, p. 484) that Mr. Gonzenbach 

 and he only saw two examples amongst the large numbers brought to the Smyrna market during 

 nine years. Canon Tristram did not meet with the Lesser White-fronted Goose in Palestine ; 

 but it certainly occurs during the winter in North-east Africa. Von Heuglin says (Orn. N.O.- 

 Afr. p. 1285) that this Goose doubtless visits Northern Egypt ; but he does not appear to have 

 had any reliable data respecting its occurrence. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., however, procured one 

 which was shot at Damietta in January 1875 ; and this capture, cited by him in his ' Rambles of a 

 Naturalist,' appears to be the first undoubted instance on record of its occurrence in that country. 

 It has, however, most certainly been obtained there previously ; for I have examined a specimen 

 in the possession of Mr. G. Cavendish Taylor, which was shot by him in Upper Egypt on the 

 1st January 1854, out of a flock sitting on a sandbank in the river. 



In Asia the Lesser White-fronted Goose ranges across the continent eastward to Japan, 

 and southward into India. Eichwald and Pallas record its occurrence on the Caspian ; but 

 Mr. Blanford did not meet with it in Persia. In India this little Goose is said to be very 

 rare. Colonel Irby shot two and saw a third near Seetapore, in Oudh, in October 1859 ; and 

 Mr. A. O. Hume writes (Stray Feathers, i. p. 259) : — " For the first time in my life I saw and shot 

 three specimens in the river Jhelum, below Shahpoor; and I again saw a pair on the Indus, 

 between Sehwan and Kotree. Nowhere else did I observe them during the trip, though their 

 small size and very brown appearance render them easily recognizable at long distances with 

 the help of binoculars. In neither case were they associated with other waterfowl. In one 

 case the three, in the other the pair, were seated at the water's edge on the river's bank with no 

 other birds of any kind near them." Dr. Finsch saw it in large flocks near Obdersk, in Western 

 Siberia ; and Mr. Seebohm obtained two on the Jennesei. Von Middendorff remarks that it is 

 much commoner on the Taimyr and Boganida than Anser albifrons, and breeds there ; for he 

 found a downy young bird on the 13th June. Dr. Radde observed the first on the Tarei-nor on 

 the 25th April ; but on the plains in the Bureja Mountains he shot one on the 9th April. In the 

 spring it is rare on the Tarei-nor ; but in the autumn, in September, it frequently passes in vast 

 flocks. The two examples shot by Mr. Seebohm are very small as compared with others I have 

 seen, the bill being weak, and the wing fully 1^ inch shorter than in the specimen from Japan. 

 Mr. Taczanowski states (J. f. 0. 1873, p. 108), it is " rare in Kultuk, in Siberia ; but Mr. Zebrowski 

 observed it not unfrequently near Irkutsk. He acids that he cannot fix the time of migration, as 

 the flocks of Geese seldom settle near Kultuk. Dr. Dybowski sent home specimens from both 

 Kultuk and Irkutsk." It is said to occur regularly in Japan and in China, where large flocks are 

 seen in the eastern provinces, chiefly in Kiangsi, in February and March ; and at the same season 

 it may be found exposed for sale in the market at Shanghai. 



In habits the present species is said to assimilate closely to the White-fronted Goose. It 

 breeds, like many of the Geese, in the extreme north of the European and Asiatic continents. 

 Dr. Sundstrom informs me that, according to Lieutenant Widmark, this Goose breeds in Lapland 

 in places near where there is ice all the season, and nests in considerable numbers ; but I have 

 no detailed information respecting its nesting-habits. Lieutenant Widmark says that it moults 

 about the first of July, and he saw a flock in full moult early in August. When in moult they 



