Red-breasted Goose 143 



According to that author, the species nests throughout the tundra of Western Siberia, 

 from the lower Obi to the lower course of the Yenisei, at a comparatively small distance 

 from the shore. 



Professor Middendorff has furnished notes on the distribution of this goose on the 

 Boganida and Pyasina, and Mr. Seebohm in the Yenisei district. Professor Menzbier holds 

 it to be clearly established that this goose does not breed to the westward of the Ural range, 

 or to the eastward of the north-eastern cape of the Taimyr peninsula ; but if the data 

 collected by Mr. Pearson in the summer of 1895 (see Ibis, 1896, p. 210) as to its breeding 

 in Lapland on Lake Ukanskoe be confirmed, the limit of the range of this species will be 

 extended considerably to the west of the line accepted by the author of Ptitsy Rossii} 



With this more westerly boundary of its habitat the frequent appearance of the red- 

 breasted goose in Western Europe would be far more intelligible, but, unfortunately, nothing 

 more can be said on the subject until there is actual confirmation of the data collected by 

 Mr. Pearson. Professor Menzbier has explained very clearly the migration routes of these 

 geese, both in spring and in autumn, how they descend by the rivers Obi, Irtysh, and Ural 

 to winter in the southern part of the Caspian, where those flocks assemble which, not taking 

 this line, travel through the Kirgiz steppes, halting from time to time on rivers and lakes, 

 as also do those which travel direct from the Tobol through the Kirgiz steppes to the lower 

 reaches of the Syr-Darya. 



Of the vast numbers of red-breasted geese wintering in the Mugan steppe, Dr. 

 Walter writes as follows: " In 1886, at the end of December, I met this beautiful kazarka 

 in the Mugan, in the more northerly, less populous part between Karagalinsk and Salian, in 

 colossal flocks at the lake-like broads of the lower Kura, together with flocks of ' ogars ' 

 (Casarca casarca), between December 21 and January 2, 1887. The geese at dusk visited 

 the few winter crops of this scantily inhabited steppe. On the approach of night they flew 

 in thousands from the fields over my cart. On January 17 I saw several small gaggles 

 flying low from place to place, and seeking in broad daylight spots free from snow." 



That the red-breasted species winters also somewhat to the east of the Caspian, in 

 parts of Persia, appears from a most interesting article full of information by Mr. Zhitnikov, 

 " Ornitologicheskiya nablyudeniya na r. Atreke," in the Psovaya i Ruzheinaya Okhota for 

 1900, to which we shall refer again more than once. 



" On the return migration, that is in spring, a host of red-breasted geese, having 

 ascended northwards to the mouth of the Volga" — writes Professor Menzbier — "partly con- 

 tinues its course by the regular route {i.e. to the mouth of the Ural) towards Kalmykov, 

 Orsk, Tobol, and so on, but in part turns aside to the Volga and ascends by its valley to 

 Sarepta, halting for a short time on the Sarpa, whence it travels along the river Ural to 

 Uralsk." 



As to this bird's straying to Archangel and Finland, if only the statement of its 

 breeding in Lapland prove to be true, we shall obtain another explanation than the one offered 

 by Professor Menzbier's hypothesis, namely, that such cases are due to birds which have 

 lost their way. The visits of this species to the regions of the Kama, the middle Volga, Oka, 

 Poland, and the Novorossiisk district, are probably far more frequent than is supposed, and 

 I think it very possible that its appearance in South Russia is even quite normal. Thus, for 

 example, beyond any doubt (at any rate in my mind) these geese pass in autumn near 



1 According to a Samoyed, who has long resided on Matochkin Shar, a "mottled goose' 5 is occasionally met with there, which 

 Mr. Buturlin surmises in his communication to me on the subject may be the red-breasted goose, 



