has known as many as twenty-seven shot in one day by sportsmen lying up for them behind gate-posts in the 
Holkham marshes during a gale of wind, when the geese fly low. In 1858 he saw a flock of fifty at South Creake 
as early as the 13th of October ; and some were said to have been seen that year on the 1st of the month. In the 
winter of 1869, a flock of about five hundred geese, which were no doubt all pink-footed, frequented some barley 
stubbles within sight of his house at Dunton, near Fakenham. They used to arrive from the coast soon after day- 
light, and remain till late in the afternoon. The chestnut-brown of the head and neck in this species he considers 
a distinguishable feature at almost any distance. The pink-footed, like the bean-goose, also frequents the large 
upland fields about Anmer and Westacre, and still further inland the open country about Wretham heath.” 
According to the elder Macgilllvray the Pink-footed Goose is not very uncommon in the south of Scotland, 
being frequently seen in the Edinburgh market. The specimen from which he took his description was shot 
in November; but the bird is more frequently obtained in February and March. Two specimens in the 
Museum at Montrose were shot in the neighbourhood of that town; and he had seen examples in winter in 
the Aberdeen market. Mr. John Macgillivray has stated, in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ 
vol. viii. p. 13, that “ the Pink-footed or Short-billed Goose breeds in great numbers in the small islands of 
the Sound of Harris, as well as those of the interior of North Uist ; but this statement would seem to he 
founded in error, since Capt. Elwes says, in ‘The Ibis’ for 1869, p. 22, I think there can be little doubt that 
the only Goose that breeds in any part of Scotland is the Grey Lag (Anser ferus) ; and the best evidence in 
favour of this view is that of Mr. J. Macdonald, of Scolpig, who has resided all bis life on the Outer 
Hebrides, where it is a common custom to rear Geese from eggs that have been laid by wild birds ; and be 
assures me that none of these eggs have ever produced any but Grey Lags with the nail of the bill white.” 
Mr. Thomas Jamieson informed Macgillivray that he had observed the Pink-footed Goose in the Isle of 
Skye in 1850 ; and St. John states that it regularly visits Morayshire at the same time as the Bean-Goose. 
“ The Short-billed or Pink-footed Goose,” says Thompson, though not uncommon in England or Scot- 
land, cannot yet be announced as obtained in Ireland, though particularly looked for of late years. 
I have alluded to the high northern localities visited by this bird in summer, in confirmation of which I 
may mention that we have the authority of Mr. Newton for stating that Mr. Proctor, of the Durham Uni- 
versity Museum, has once or twice received specimens from Iceland ; and Mr. Newton himself says that, “ in 
Spitzbergen the Pink-footed Goose has been* met with in Wide Bay, lat. 79° 35' N., and probably occurs all 
along the west coast. It is most numerous in Ice Sound, where a hatched-out nest with two goslings was 
found about midnight between the 16th and 17th of July. Dr. Malmgren seems to have met with at least 
two nests in the upper part of the Sound, from both of which he shot the female bird. The second was 
obtained at Mittelhook, in the same Sound, on the 10th of July. According to Dr. Malmgren, the species 
also occurs in Hinlopen Strait and Stor Fjord.” In a review of Herr Robert Collett’s ‘ List of the Birds of 
Norway’ in ‘The Ibis’ for 1869, it is stated that “the Anser hracliyrhjnchus has at last been recognized as 
breeding in the north of Norway.” 
Temminck states that this species has been several times killed in France, where it occasionally aj)pears as 
a migrant, as it probably does in several other countries of Europe, but has there been confounded with A. 
segetum, from which it differs but little. It had only been observed during the severe winters of 1829, 
1830, and 1838, and always in very small numbers, which kept together and did not mingle with the flocks 
of common geese ; a peculiarity which the bird also evinces in captivity, since M. de Lamotte, of Abbeville, 
kept three individuals in an enclosure in company A.ferus^ A. segetum,rci\^ A. alhifrons\ but they always 
remained apart and evinced no disposition to ally themselves with either of them ; and a male in the Gardens 
of the Zoological Society in the Regent’s Park, and a female on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, 
would not associate with any of the various species with wdiich they were surrounded. 
Meyer says: — “Towards the sj)ring these geese become restless, flying to meadows, waste lands, and heathy 
commons, and finally leave their winter-quarters for more northern regions. Their migratory journeys are 
performed usually in the day ; and the speed at which they sometimes fly has been noticed to amount to forty 
or fifty miles an hour. The numbers that journey together vary from five to fifty or sixty ; and when in 
large flocks, they form a triangular figure, headed by the father of the foremost family.” 
Tbe number of eggs laid by this goose has not been ascertained. The female belonging to the Ornitho- 
logical Society, and kept on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, deposited eight, which, Mr. Yarrell 
says, were rather less than those of a Bean-Goose, of a pure white, and measured 3 t inches in length by 
2i inches in breadth. 
4 
I must not conclude my account of the Pink-footed Goose without recording my obligations to Earls Ducie 
and Fitzhardinge for the assistance they have kindly rendered me by forwarding the fine examples from 
which my figures were taken, nor to Mr. Alfred Newton for the sight of a pair of goslings obtained by him 
in Ice Sound, on the western side of Spitzbergen. 
The figures are about, or perhaps a little more than, half the natural size. 
