﻿CREAM-COLOURED GOOSE. 51 



NA TA TORES. A NA TIDJE. 



PLATE CCXXXVIIL 



CREAM-COLOURED GOOSE. 



ANSER ALBA. 



On the 11th of January, 1841, a snow-white bird, the 

 original of the annexed Plate, was brought to us. It had 

 just been shot on the Thames, near the village of Shep- 

 perton, Middlesex, where we then resided. The bird had 

 fallen on the drifting ice, the river being partly frozen over, 

 and the young sportsman who had brought it down was 

 obliged to walk on the ice in order to reach his prize ; in 

 making this attempt the ice broke under him, and he fell 

 through into the river. He had the good fortune to rise 

 again in a part of the stream that was free from ice, and 

 eventually succeeded not only in gaining the shore, but in 

 bringing the object of his pursuit safely with him. 



It was a beautiful bird, and not known by name or ap- 

 pearance either to the person who had shot it or to our- 

 selves : we consequently, after purchasing it, took full par- 

 ticulars of its appearance and measurements, but being at 

 last unable to reconcile it with any known species, we con- 

 cluded, rather hastily, that it was a half-bred individual from 

 some of the preserves or decoys in one of the neighbouring 

 counties, which had been induced by the severity of the 

 season to stray from its usual haunts. 



