ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 93 
frost of 1776 Mr. Temminck states that it is seldom seen in 
Western Europe, and that its breeding places are the Frozen 
Ocean and the large rivers of Siberia, where it is so plentiful 
that, according to Seebohm, thousands are sold at two- 
pence each. The bird is strikingly beautiful, and well worth 
the attention of amateurs. Gould, in his “Birds of Britain,” 
speaks of it as being the finest species of its own particular 
family, “for no other goose excels it in the richness of its 
colouring or in the fantastic character of its markings.” Its 
general contour and size are as near as possible those of the 
Little Brent Goose, and a specimen lived for some time in the 
Zovlogical Gardens, where it became very tame and would feed 
from the hand. Seebohm, who undertook two arduous 
journeys to Siberia in search of Arctic birds, states that he 
found a Red-breasted Goose incubating during the month of 
June, and that young birds were observable in the Boganida 
River in the end of July. This bird, according to the author 
just quoted, never breeds more than three hundred miles from 
the coast, its range being extremely restricted. The Zoological 
Gardens of Amsterdam possessed specimens captured in 1883 
or 1884, during a severe storm in the North-west, on the Island 
of Texel, Holland. Mr. Jamrach imported some specimens in 
1903, which commanded a high price. The best information 
we have regarding this bird in captivity is furnished by Mr. 
Blaauw, of Gooilust, Holland, who writes as follows :— 
‘* This is one of the rarest waterfowl ever seen in captivity. In the 
‘* Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club,” cxxviii., Mr. Sclater 
expresses as his opinion that the female bird, received in the Zoological 
Gardens of Regent’s Park, in 1858, is the only one ever exhibited in 
captivity in the British Islands. In Holland, five or six specimens have 
been exhibited in the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam ever since its found- 
ation, and at the present time one single specimen is living at Gooilust. 
‘¢ All these birds have occasionally been caught in this country 
(Holland), and I do not believe any have ever been imported either from 
