CHEN. — BRANTA. 161 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Rare Visitor : one 

 example was obtained in Ireland, at Belmullet, co. Mayo, in 

 Oct. 1886. 



General Distribution. — Tlie Greater Snow-Groose breeds in 

 Greenland and Ellesmere Land, Arctic North America. In 

 winter it visits the United States, east o£ the Mississippi, 

 southwards to Florida and Porto Rico. 



The claims of this larger race to distinction do not seem as 

 yet very well established. 



Genus BRANTA Scopoli, Ann. i. Hist. Nat. 1769, p. 67. 

 Type: B. bernicla (Linn.). 



Urania, a medisSTal word foimd in Gesner, probably the same as onx 

 " Brent " (i. u. Burnt Goose) from its charred appearance. 



Branta bernicla. Brent Goose. 



Anas bernicla Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 124: Sweden. 



Bernicla brenta {Pall.) ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 117 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 411. 

 Branta bernicla {Linn.) ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 1895, 



p. 119 (part.). 



Bernicla, of uncertain derivation, possibly connected with barnacles, from 

 which these Geese were fabled to grow. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Winter Visitor, 

 numerous in the Shetlands and Orkneys and on the east and 

 south coasts o£ Great Britain. In the Hebrides and on the 

 western shores it is much less numerous and more irregular. 

 It is very common on the coasts of Ireland, and is seldom 

 met with on inland waters unless wounded. 



General Distribution. — The Brent Goose breeds in Kolguev, 

 Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and Spitsbergen, and 

 probably also in north Eussia on the tundra of the Kanin 

 Peninsula and Yalmal. In Asia it nests near the mouth 

 of the Yenesei and on the Taimyr Peninsula. In winter it 



M 



