THE SHORT-BILLED AND BALD GEESE. 
195 
Pass and repass, a strange confused crowd. 
Arrived, with caution they to earth descend 
From their safe height, and scattering divide 
In smaller companies. 
The Short-billed Grey Goose (Anser 6rachyrhynchus\ 
better known, perhaps, as the Pink-footed Goose, first de- 
scribed as a British bird, and exhibited by Mr. Bartlett, 
in January 1839, at an evening meeting of the Zoological 
Society, but previously described and named hracliyrhyn- 
chus^ or short-billed, by a French naturalist. Mr. Bartlett's 
name is perhaps the best, there being, as Yarrell says, ' seve- 
ral geese with short bills, but only one other that has pink 
legs and feet.' Little is known of the habits of this bird in a 
wild state, although it has been met with in various parts of 
England, and not very uncommonly in the south of Scotland. 
Mr. J. Macgillivray says that it breeds in great numbers on 
the small islands of the Sound of Harris, as well as of those of 
the interior of North Uist, where it has been seen in flocks as 
late as the beginning of May, and observed in pairs about 
the middle of the month, having its young fully fledged and 
strong on the wing about the end of July. The general 
length of this bird is thirty-one inches ; in the colour of its 
plumage it closely resembles the Bean Goose, its main dis- 
tinction from which is its shorter bill. 
The White-fbonted Goose {Anszr albifrons), sometimes 
called the Laughing, or Bald Goose.— Another name some- 
times given to this species is the Tortoise-shell Goose, from 
the peculiar markings on the breast and belly, which are 
very striking and distinct ; the forehead is white with a 
black band, hence the name ' bald ' often applied to it, 
which is very incorrect, for the white part is as well covered 
with feathers as any other. Twenty-eight inches is the 
common length of this species, whose plumage is an admix- 
ture of brown, grey, and white, but with deeper bars and 
markings than on those previously described. This is the 
common Goose of Lapland, where, from frequenting more 
elevated regions than any of its congeners, it is called the 
Mountain Goose. It generally makes its appearance in 
this country about the end of October, and departs about 
N 2 
