Family ANATID^. Genus Bernicla. 



Subfamily Anserine. 



RED BREASTED GOOSE. 



BERNICLA RUFICOLLIS— (Pa/Zfl^). 



Geographical Distribution. — British .• Accidental straggler 

 during autumn and winter. Among many more than doubtful 

 records, the following instances are apparently thoroughly trust- 

 worthy. England : near London (i example), 1776. Quite an 

 historical interest attaches to this specimen. It was recorded by 

 Tunstall, formed the subject of one of Bewick's plates, and is 

 still preserved in the Newcastle Museum. Yorkshire (i example), 

 probably got about the same time as Tunstall's specimen; 

 Northumberland (i example), 1818; Devonshire (2 examples), 

 1828, 1837; Essex (i example), January, 1871. Foreign: 

 Extreme north-central Palaearctic region ; more southerly in 

 winter. Is only known to breed above the limits of forest 

 growth in the valleys of the Obb, the Yenesay, and the Boganida. 

 Middendorff obtained the first authenticated eggs of this Goose 

 on the Boganida, and was assured that the bird was still more 

 numerous at the mouth of the Piasina, some miles further west. 

 An egg with the parent bird was brought to Mr. Seebohm, which 

 had been obtained from an island in the delta of the Yenesay ; 

 whilst Finsch found this Goose fairly numerous in the valley of the 

 Obb. The migrations of this species appear to be across the plains 

 of the Tax, between the Yenesay and the Obb, and down the 

 valley of that river into the Irtish valley, thence into that of 

 the Tobol and the Ural, onwards to the Caspian. This route 

 takes it through South-western Siberia and Northern Turkestan 

 to its winter quarters in the basin of the Caspian. Eastwards 

 this species has wandered as far as Lake Baikal, whilst westwards 



