404 



band encircling the whole of the fore part of the body margined on both sides with black ; rest of the 

 body glossy black with slight greenish reflexions, excepting the edges to the wing-coverts, which are 

 greyish white, and the rump, abdomen, and sides of the body, which are pure white; the flanks are 

 banded slightly with black ; under tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts black ; bill and feet black ; 

 iris dark brown. Total length 20 inches, culmen 10, wing 14/5, tail 6 - 0, tarsus 2'1. 



Another male, almost but not fully adult, differed from the foregoing only in having the black throat slightly 

 varied with white, and the chin itself whitish ; the black line down the centre of the neck was not very 

 well pronounced, and did not join the chestnut throat, being crossed at the point of juncture by the 

 white of the side of the neck, which in this specimen formed a band across the throat ; the auricular 

 chestnut patch was also not quite so bright. 



Female. In general similar to the male, but the colours very much duller, the black of the upper surface 

 tinged with brown, and having a few whitish edgings to the feathers, especially on the rump; the black 

 of the head carried right down the neck and joining the back, becoming dull brownish at the point of 

 juncture ; the edges of the wing-coverts of a decided greyish white ; all the white bands which form the 

 pattern of the head edged with brownish ; the black markings not nearly so deep as in the male, and 

 everywhere edged with whitish ; the auricular patch brown, marked with black and also tinged with 

 whitish ; chin whitish ; the black of the throat dull, mixed with rufous, and not extending so far down 

 on the throat as in the male ; the breast coloured as in the male, but much duller, and very much mixed 

 with white down the centre ; the tips of the tail-feathers white. 



Young Male. Very similar to the last described, but the plumage in some respects more perfect ; the auri- 

 cular patch scarcely indicated by greyish white feathers in which a slight tinge of rufous appears ; the 

 black on the throat not extending so far down the breast as in the adult male, but carried right up to 

 the chin ; as in the last described, the tail is tipped with white. 



Obs. Although the two last-mentioned specimens have been described as ticketed, I cannot but believe that 

 there has been some mistake in the labels, and that the bird described as the young male is really the 

 female, and vice versa. 



This, one of the rarest of our Geese, is only known as a rare straggler in Europe, except in the 

 extreme east, but it breeds not unfrequently in Northern Siberia. It has been several times 

 obtained in Great Britain. Mr. More, in his catalogue of the birds of Devon, records the 

 occurrence of one at Kenton Warren, in Devonshire, in 1828, and one, Teign Marshes, on the 

 1st February, 1837. One, formerly in the possession of Mr. Harting, and now in the collection 

 of Mr. Marshall, was killed at Maldon, in Essex, on the 6th January, 1871 ; one was, according 

 to Fox, obtained near London in 1776 ; one was shot at Halvergate, in Norfolk, in 1805 ; and 

 one in Cambridgeshire in 1813. Bewick records the occurrence of one near Wycliffe, in 

 Yorkshire ; and Hogg states that two were seen on the Tees, near Durham, not long prior to 

 1845, and one shot in Cowpen Marsh, Durham, about the same time. Mr. B. Gray, writing 

 respecting its occurrence in Scotland, says (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 352) " the late Dr. Fleming, in 

 his meritorious work on British animals, thus announces the occurrence of a specimen of this 

 rare straggler in Scotland : — ' One was shot near Berwick-on-Tweed by Mr. Burney, gunsmith, 

 and sent to Mr. Bullock, in whose possession I saw it in May 1818.' Another, said to have been 

 killed in the county of Caithness, is alluded to by Mr. Wilson ; but the date and precise locality 



