Family ANATID^. Genus Anser. 



Subfamily Anserine. 



WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



ANSER ALBIFRONS— (&tf/(7//). 



Geographical Distribution. — British .• Winter visitor, 

 local in distribution, and much more abundant in some seasons 

 than others. Found in small numbers on the east coast of 

 Scotland, but very rare in the Shetlands, and even more locally 

 on the west, where its chief strongholds are the Outer Hebrides, 

 notably Islay. Rare on the east coast of England and in Wales, 

 but much more common — in some seasons remarkably abundant 

 — on the south and south-west. Commonest in Ireland, its 

 principal haunts being in the north-west, west, and south. 

 Foreign : Palasarctic region ; some parts of the Oriental region in 

 winter. Accidental in the Faroes and Iceland, but breeds regu- 

 larly in Arctic Russia and across Siberia to Behring Strait. 

 Passes the coasts of West Europe, the river valleys of Russia and 

 Siberia, and Turkestan on migration. Winters off the coast of 

 France, and occasionally wanders as far south as Gibraltar, Italy, 

 and Transylvania. Other parties of migrants, crossing inland 

 routes, winter in Greece, South Russia, Asia Minor, North-east 

 Africa, the Persian coasts of the Caspian, and North-west India. 

 In the far east the migrants follow the coast as in the west, and 

 winter in Japan and China as far south as Shanghai. 



Allied Forms. — Anser albifrons minutus. The small form 

 of the White-fronted Goose, a " British " species, and dealt with 

 fully in the following chapter. A. gambeli, an inhabitant of 

 Arctic America as far north as lat. 72°, ranging from Alaska to 

 Greenland, wintering in the United States as far south as the 



z 2 



