Family AN ATI D^. Genus Bernicla. 



Subfamily AnseriNj-e. 



BERNACLE GOOSE. 



BERNICLA LEUCOPSIS— (^ffto««). 

 Geographical Distribution. — British.- Winter visitor to 



the British Islands, most abundant during severe seasons. Least 

 common on the eastern coast line of Scotland and England, rare 

 on the south coast, becoming much more frequent on the west, 

 from Cornwall northwards. Abundant in the Solway district and 

 on the coasts of Lancashire, and commonly distributed through- 

 out the west coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides. Locally 

 distributed in Ireland, where it is most abundant on the north 

 and north-west coasts, and, as might naturally be expected, in 

 one or two favoured districts on the east. Frequently wanders 

 inland, and winters on large sheets of water, especially where it is 

 afforded protection. Foreign: North-west Palsearctic region; more 

 southerly in winter. Although the Bernacle Goose has been 

 well known for the past three hundred years and more, its breed- 

 ing grounds remain undiscovered, and authentic eggs laid by the 

 bird in a wild state are unknown. All that can be said is that it 

 has been met with during the breeding season in Greenland, 

 Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla. Collett states that this 

 bird breeds on the Loffoden Islands, off the coast of Norway, in 

 lat. 68^°; but inasmuch that the evidence is secondhand, only 

 the eggs being sent, with a meagre description of the parents (by 

 the proprietor of the island), it is unwise to accept it. It should 

 also be remembered that these " Black Geese " are birds of the 

 high north, and seem to require far different climatic conditions 

 for their reproduction than those prevailing in these compara- 

 tively low and Gulf Stream-encircled islands. Occurs sparingly 



