281 



At the present moment it is hardly possible to tell whether 

 the observations here reported actually refer to this species or 

 to A. erythropus, with which it has possibly been confounded, but 

 I hope, with the assistance of Mr. Irgens, ere long to settle the 

 question. 



As to the occurrence of this species in the south of the country, 

 stray individuals only have been observed. 



An individual shot in Helgeland has been described by Heltzen, 

 in his MS. for 1842, under the name of Finmark goose, the species 

 being there stated to appear in migration-time on the shores of 

 Nordland, where, perhaps, its occurrence at that season is more 

 frequent than is generally imagined. In the southern parts of 

 the country most of the specimens procured were shot on the 

 vernal passage; an individual was killed near Christiansand in 1867, 

 and another near Egersund in May 1870; the latter is preserved 

 in the University Museum. 



Branta bernicla, Lin. 



Occurs everywhere along the Finmark coast in migration-time. 



On 17th June 1872, I examined, at Tromsø, an individual that 

 had just been shot. It was a male bird with large and swelling 

 testes; in the stomach I found grass and gravel only. This bird 

 had very probably been delayed on its passage to Spitsbergen, 

 though single individuals, which there is no reason to suppose can 

 have bred, have been known to pass the entire summer on the 

 Norwegian coast. In July 1868, an example was killed near 

 Egersund (west of the Naze), and subsequently transmitted to 

 the University Museum. This specimen is unusally small in size, 

 and the bird may, perhaps, from sickness, have been compelled to 

 remain behind. Wing 305 mm ; length from nostrils 17%, tail 84, 

 culmen 32. tarsus 51, middle to 43 + 6 mm. This is an old bird; 

 head and breast much mixed with brown. 



Every year this species is found wintering on the south-western 

 coast, as a rule singly, or at least in small numbers. Inthewinter 

 of 1870, according to Mr. Bahr, vast flocks were observed on Jæ- 

 deren and the shores of the Bukkefjord, near Stavanger. The 



