82 Geese of Europe and Asia 



know that certain species of the genus Melanonyx breed very far southward in East 

 Siberia; and it is quite probable that some of the references quoted under a note of inter- 

 rogation in the bibliography to the notice of the short-billed goose really pertain to 

 M. neglectus, although this is now hardly possible to verify. 



Moreover, it is possible, and even probable, that it is to a specimen of the latter 

 species from the Timsk district, Kursk Government, that the passage in the first number of the 

 Okhotnichya Gazeta for 1900 (p. 3) refers. "A goose," it is stated, " wounded here, lived 

 in our fowl-yard thirteen years. It was small and neatly built, with a fairly slender neck 

 and elegant head. Its plumage was dark grey, the bill black with a regular transverse 

 rose-red bar a centimetre in width. This goose was wounded in the wing, but soon 

 recovered, although it could not fly. It became quite used to captivity, and was not shy, 

 although when trying to conceal itself from observation it would press its head to its 

 breast." 



Farther on the author continues : " He never parted from his little Russian wife. 

 While she sat for weeks together on her eggs, he patiently stood or sat near the nest. He, 

 however, treated his offspring inhospitably, trying to drive them away from himself and 

 their mother. The half-wild geese reared in our poultry-yard were small-sized (although 

 larger than the father), with rather dark-coloured plumage, and the bill half black with a 

 light point, but lacking a rose-red ring." 



Of course, it is not clear from the above passage whether the bird was a Sushkin's 

 or a short-billed goose, as there is nothing definite in the description ; but, seeing that not 

 a single trustworthy occurrence of the pink-footed goose in Russia has been noted, while 

 it is beyond doubt that Sushkin's goose must have lines of migration through European 

 Russia, probability is on the side of the supposition that the rose-billed goose observed 

 in the Kursk Government belonged to the present species. Recently, in the January 

 number of Psovaya i Ruzheinaya Okhota for 1903, Dr. Sushkin in an article, " О prolete 

 gusei," reports that he killed in September 1902 two Sushkin's geese in the Ryazan 

 district of the Ryazan Government from two different flocks. 



Accordingly, if we connect by lines the extreme points where this species has 

 been certainly seen, that is, on the one hand, Novaia Zemlia with Hungary and, 

 on the other, with Seistan, passing through the Ufa Government, we shall obtain a 

 very extensive range. Moreover, if we are assured that the species strays to Great 

 Britain, India, and even Japan (where Mr. Swinhoe speaks of it under the name of 

 A. brachyrhynchus), we shall obtain an idea of the wide geographical distribution of 

 this goose, which, it would seem, is more widely spread than its congeners. 



Now that, thanks to the labours of Messrs. Sushkin, Madarasz, Menzbier, and 

 Buturlin, the determination of this species has become fairly complete, let us hope that 

 our information with regard to its range and habits will ere long become proportionally 

 enlarged. 



Dr. Sushkin writes as follows on the subject : " Observations on the autumn 

 migration were carried on in the Belebeevsk and neighbouring part of the Ufimsk 

 districts, in the environs of Asly-kul and Shungak-kul. The flocks, so far as could 

 be discerned, were moving S.W.S. Of nine geese secured, eight, as already stated, 

 belonged to A. neglectus, and only one to the true A. segetum. Besides this, by 

 observing from my hiding-place the behaviour of the geese on the wing, I was able to 

 examine carefully through a binocular probably hundreds of them, and only once or twice 



