406 SNOW-GOOSE. 
In 1884, and again in the severe winter of 1890-91, birds and even 
flocks, were recognized on the wing by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson 
and Mr. D. L. Thorpe in Cumberland, by Mr. G,. Bolam and Sir 
Ralph Payne-Gallwey in Northumberland, and by Mr. H. Sharp in 
Yorkshire, while three appear to have visited Berkeley on the 
Severn ; but no examples were obtained. 
The home of the Snow-Goose is in North America, where two 
forms are found, differing only in size. The larger nests in the 
Hudson Bay region, migrating southward—chiefly along the 
Atlantic coast—in winter. The smaller, to which the specimens 
obtained in Ireland clearly belong, breeds in Western Arctic 
America and Alaska, visiting the country between the Pacific and 
the Mississippi valley during the cold season. It is this race which 
occurs in Japan and was obtained in North-eastern Siberia by 
Pallas, who described it under the specific name Ayperboreus (Chen 
albatus of Cassin); and to this probably belong the Snow-Geese 
which have from time to time been noticed in the Ural district, 
Greece, Germany down to Silesia, Heligoland and Holland. A 
female was shot near Lister, South Norway, on September 24th 1889 ; 
and in Southern France two have been procured out of flocks. One 
or both forms go as far south as the Bermudas, Texas and Cuba. 
Mr. R. MacFarlane describes the nests as being placed near lakes, 
in hollows formed in the sandy soil, and well lined with down; 
the eggs, usually 5 in number, are chalky-white: measurements 
3°4 by 2'2 in. The young fly in the middle of August, and by the 
end of September all have departed south. The food in summer 
consists of green rushes, insects &c., and in autumn of berries, 
especially those of Ewpetrum nigrum. Another member of this 
genus, C. cerulescens, differs only in having a varying amount of 
lead-coloured markings irregularly disposed over its plumage ; and 
it has been suggested that this and the Snow-Goose may be 
coloured and white phases of the same bird, like those that exist in 
the case of some of the American Herons. There is a third white 
species, C. rossi, a very small bird. 
The adult has the quill-feathers black, greyish at the base, as are 
also the coverts ; remaining plumage pure white, the forehead some- 
times stained with orange-rust colour ; bill red, commissures black, 
nail whitish ; legs and feet red. Length: male 28-30 in., wing 
17-18 in. ; female 23°3-24 in., wing 15-16 in. The young bird has 
the upper parts dull brownish-grey with darker centres to the feathers 
of the back and wing-coverts ; under parts greyish-white ; bill black ; 
legs and feet lead-colour. 
