476 
L AMELLI ROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
instance of its actual occurrence. Audubon liimself never met with it ; but single 
specimens have more recently been secured in Vermont, and near New York City. 
Mr. Selby speaks of it as a regular winter visitant of Great Britain, and says that 
it comes, upon the approach of autumn, in vast numbers to the western shores of 
that country, and to the north of Ireland. It is very abundant on the coast of Lan- 
cashire, frequenting the marshy grounds that are occasionally covered by the spring 
tides, and such sands as produce the sea-grasses and plants upon which it feeds. It 
is a very wary bird, and can be approached only by the most cautious manoeuvres. 
It may be shot by moonlight, when it comes upon the sands to feed, by persons 
crouching on the ground, or from behind some shelter, in such places as the flocks are 
known to frequent. Its flesh is said to be sweet and tender, and is highly esteemed 
for the table. On the approach of spring it departs for more northern countries, and 
by the middle of March none are left behind. When made captive it soon becomes as 
familiar as the Domestic Goose, adapting itself to confinement, and breeding readily. 
It has been known to mate with the White-fronted Goose, and to hatch out a brood. 
Small flocks have been kept for several seasons in St. James’s Park; and young broods 
were hatched in 1844, and again in 1845. Broods have also been raised on the 
grounds of Mr. A. W. Austin, near Boston, in Lincolnshire. Mr. Yarrell states that 
the eggs laid in St. James’s Park were white, and measured 2.75 inches in length by 
1.87 inches in breadth. 
Mr. Dunn states that this Goose migrates in vast numbers along the western 
coast of Norway, from the Naze of Norway northward, where it generally seems to 
make the land after leaving the Danish coast. The shores of the White Sea are its 
supposed breeding-place. It appears in vast numbers on the coast of Scona, in Octo- 
ber and November, and is reported as visiting the Faroe Islands and Iceland. During 
its migrations it is said to be abundant in Holland, France, and Germany. 
Mr. Audubon describes its eggs, from specimens in the Museum of the University 
of Edinburgh, as measuring 2.87 inches in length, by 1.87 inches in breadth, and as 
being of a uniform yellowish cream-color. 
Professor Malmgren states (“Ibis,” 1869) that this species is certainly an inhab- 
itant of Spitzbergen. Many were seen in Advent Bay, and one was killed in the 
beginning of August. 
Middendorff gives it as occurring, during the breeding-season, in Siberia, in the 
northern Tundras, or Barrens. Mr. H. Saunders met with a single specimen of 
this species in Spain, near Seville. It was shot in the “ marisma ” (lagoon), in the 
southern part of the kingdom. 
Mr. Wheelwright states it to be only a bird of passage through Scandinavia, going 
to and from its breeding haunts. The eggs in his collection, he mentions, bear a 
very close resemblance to those of the Anser minutus, but are smaller. It does not 
breed in any part of Scandinavia. 
Genus PHILACTE, Bannister. 
“ Chlcephaga,” Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 768 (not of Eyton, 1838). 
Philacte, Bannist. Pr. Pliilad. Acad. 1870, 131 (type, Anas canagica, Sevast.). 
Char. This genus, the most distinct among the North American Anseres, differs from all other 
of our Geese in the peculiar form of the hill. This member is unusually short, with very large, 
broad, and thick nails, which occupy nearly the terminal third of the bill. The nasal cavity is 
very large, broadly ovate, and distinctly defined, its posterior end nearly or quite touching the 
