BIRDS 243 



SNOW GOOSE. 



Chen hype?'boreus (Pall. ). 



Although well authenticated as an occasional visitant to 

 Ireland, thanks to the researches of Mr. Howard Saunders and 

 Mr. J. E. Harting, and reported by Mr. Gaetke as having been 

 identified at Heligoland, this Goose was only ascertained to have 

 strayed to Great Britain in 1884. It was on the 2 2d of August 

 in that year that a single Snow Goose made its appearance on 

 the shores of the English Sol way, near Allonby. 



Starting for the coast by an early train, my companion and I 

 reached the beach about 9 A.M., the morning being fine and 

 calm, with a haze at sea. My astonishment may be imagined, 

 when a Snow Goose came flying along the edge of the water, 

 coming out of the west. It flew so leisurely that we felt sure 

 it must soon alight to rest, so, instead of trying a long shot at 

 it with small shot, which was all we had, I contented myself 

 with pointing out to William Railton, who accompanied me, the 

 salient points in the Goose, which I had of course no difficulty 

 in recognising. The bird never alighted ; all inquiries on the 

 Scottish and English sides of the firth failed to elicit any 

 detailed information. There can be no doubt that it flew up 

 the whole length of the Solway, and was last seen by a punt 

 gunner making for the Esk. At a later date a Scotch fisherman 

 supplied Mr. E. Service with a description of such a bird, which 

 he said that he had found washed up dead. His employer, to 

 whom he professed to have shown the bird, disowned any such 

 proceeding. I have no doubt that he obtained his description 

 of it from one of the Scotch fowlers, to whom I had written to 

 describe the bird and say that it was ' wanted.' 



Curiously enough, the species reappeared in January 1891, 

 almost in the same identical neighbourhood in which it had first 

 occurred to us. A party of four birds were seen in a grass field 

 near Mowbray, by a young farmer, who was positive that they 

 were ' white geese.' His dog rose them, and he had an excellent 

 view of them at comparatively close quarters. Mr. R. Mann 

 cross-examined another man who had seen them, and was posi- 

 tive they were White Geese and not Swans. 



