White- fronted Goose 53 



through the Azov district, along the lower course of the Don ; and there is little doubt that 

 these flocks leave to winter on the Black Sea, while a part may even journey to North Africa, 

 although none make for the Caspian. In warm autumns these geese remain long about the 

 Azov, frequenting the estuaries of rivers and the rich green crops of the adjacent steppes. 

 Their loud, cheerful kha-kha ox gaga-gaga, really at a distance resembling laughter, is then 

 heard ceaselessly in those regions ; but it must always remain a wonder whence such 

 innumerable flocks of geese can have come ! True, my recollection of such hosts of white- 

 fronted geese refers to the past, — seventeen to twenty years ago, — but they undoubtedly 

 assemble there now in the autumn in large numbers. Notwithstanding such abundance, the 

 number killed is far from great. Only one autumn I remember, on the estuary of the Mius, 

 some twelve miles from Taganrog, that two brothers, professional wild-fowlers, whom I knew, 

 shot no less than some 400, owing to the fogs then prevailing, during which the geese flew 

 from their night refuge to feed in the steppe and back again, keeping very low. In the 

 Kharkov Government, on both passages, this species, according to Mr. N. N. Somov, is the 

 most common of all geese. 



That white-fronted geese do not always travel autumn and spring by the same routes 

 is certain. For example, in the Azov district, where such masses of them fly past in autumn, 

 their spring migration is comparatively so insignificant that the birds evidently return to 

 their northern home by other routes. In regard to this, I have already said that, in my 

 opinion, according to the data at hand, it is still premature to try to definitely ascertain their 

 routes, seeing the need for more numerous and exact observations. I am accordingly far 

 from sure that all the white-fronted geese wintering in Great Britain, Holland, and North 

 France arrive thither from Northern Russia and Finmark (although small numbers come 

 from the latter country), but admit that part arrives from Greenland and Iceland. As 

 to the natives of those countries, we cannot at present indicate their winter haunts ; and 

 as to the passage of these geese along the Volga, Kama, etc., observations more accurate 

 than those which exist are still needed. This is the more necessary, seeing that the 

 lines of migration of geese are far from remaining unchanged from year to year. As is 

 truly observed by Professor Menzbier, "it must further be stated that white-fronted 

 geese do not travel year after year along the same branches of the main lines of migration. 

 Something causes them to leave their old favourite road for a new one, and then, together 

 with the alteration in direction of the migration route, the halting-places are also changed. 

 It is indeed possible that it is precisely the alteration in the conditions of the halting- 

 places and the facilities for getting food that compel the white-fronted geese to vary their 

 minor lines of migration. " 



To confirm this by facts, it will suffice to quote a statement by Eversmann in his 

 Yestestvennaga Istoria Orenburgskago Kraya (part iii. p. 557, 1866): "The white- fronted 

 goose," he writes, "does not breed in our region (Orenburg Government) : in spring, in the 

 month of April, it flies past in great flocks towards the East and North-East, while in autunm, 

 September and October, it flies back. The zone of passage of the white-fronted goose is very 

 wide, so that one boundary passes through the outskirts of Kazan and the other through 

 those of Orenburg and Iletsk. But the same flocks yearly pass over the same places, keep 

 always one course, and rest on familiar waters, so that at a short distance farther north or 

 south not a single goose is met with. It happens, however, sometimes that, from some 

 unknown cause, the birds abandon the known track and select a new one far northwards or 

 southwards, and then pass annually over the newly chosen route. Thus, for example, thirty 



