173 



BED-BREASTED GOOSE. 



Anser ruflcoJlis, 



. 



LaTHAIT. 



Oie a con roux, 



• 



Tejoixnck. 



Anser — A Goose. 



Rufus — Bed. 



ColJum — A neck. 



This handsome Goose, which appears to be of very rare occurrence in any country, 

 has been obtained in seven or eight instances in England, mostly in the south. Thus 

 it has been met frith in Devon, Cambridge, Norfolk, near London, and near Berwick-on- 

 Tweed. 



In Scotland it is unknown. 



In Ireland it is believed to have once occurred. Of this specimen Mr. Thompson says, 

 ""When in Dublin in March 1833, I was informed by a person to whom this species 

 was well known, that about five years previously he had seen a specimen in the shop 

 of Mr. Glennon; on inquiry of whom, I learned that the bird had been sent to him 

 in a fresh state, to be preserved, but he was not aware where it had been killed. That 

 it was procured on our coast is at least a fair inference." 



It has occurred but once in France, once in Holland, and once in Germany. Twice 

 in Scandinavia; and several times in Denmark. It is believed to breed on the extreme 

 northern shores of Europe and Asia. It is mentioned by Yarrell, that "M. Menetries, 

 in his 'Catalogue Raisonne of objects in Zoology,' observed by the naturalists attached 

 to the Russian expedition to the vicinity of the Caucasus and the frontiers of Persia, 

 says, that in 1828 a considerable flock of this species appeared at Leukoran, probably 

 driven there by strong winds; they were so exhausted by fatigue that they were caught 

 by hand, and many were preserved in captivity, to which they were easily reconciled. They 

 always kept together, and uttered a gentle call-note when any one of their party sepa- 

 rated from the others, or when a bird of prey hovered over them: this was the only 

 sound that was heard. Of the food placed before them they preferred green vegetables 

 to grain, and drank often." The above is the only scanty record that we have met 

 with of the habits of this bird. 



Of its nest or eggs we know nothing. 



"In the adult bird the beak and the nail are almost black ; (bill, reddish brown, with 



