Genus Pokzana.
3 1 0 . P o u z a n a m a r u e t t a . . . . . . . . . . Vol. IV. P I. LXXXVIII.
S po t t e d C ba iie .
Whatever may have been the case formerly, when our fens were the regular nesting-haunts o f this and
many other marsh-loving birds, the Spotted Crake can now only be considered a spring and autumn
migrant, occasionally remaining to breed in favourable situations.
3 1 1 . PORZANA PYGM/EA...................................................................................................................... Vol. IV. P I . LXXXIX.
B a il lo n ’s C rake.
This little bird has so frequently been met with in England and a t almost every season o f the year, that
an enumeration o f particular localities for it is unnecessary. It may be regarded as a local resident. I t has,
however, been only obtained once in Scotland and once in Ireland.
3 1 2 . PORZANA M IN U T A Vol. IV. P I . XC.
O liv ac eou s C rake .
Almost the same remark will apply to this as to the last-named species, although the seasons at which it
has been generally met with seem to indicate th at it is a spring and autumn migrant.
O R D E R NATATORES.
In this order Vigors and others have included all the swimming birds—Geese, Swans, the two great
divisions o f the Ducks, Mergansers, Cormorants, Auks, Grebes, Penguins, Divers, Gulls, Terns, and Petrels.
Their distribution is almost universal, the icy poles being the only p art o f the globe from which they are
absent.
I f we institute a comparison between the ornithological productions o f the different parts o f the earth’s
surface, we find that water-birds are much more rife in some countries than others, and that they are more
numerous in the northern than in the southern hemisphere ; and if we compare those frequenting the area of
the British Islands and the surrounding seas and fresh waters with those frequenting a similar extent o f any
other portion of the globe, we shall find a greater variety o f forms than elsewhere, due doubtless to the
peculiar position o f our islands, lying as they do between the two great northern continents, and to a certain
extent under the influence o f the Gulf-stream.
I now proceed to the enumeration of the species contained in the fifth volume, and commence with the
Geese, two or three of which grace our wolds and marshes.
Subfamily ANSERINE.
In round numbers about thirty species o f Geese are now known to ornithologists. They admit o f being
divided into many genera, of which Cereopsis, Anser, and Nettapus are conspicuously distinct from each o th e r;
it is, however, with the genera Anser and Bernicla only, or true Geese, that we have to do with in the ‘ Birds
o f Great Britain.’
Genus A n s e r .
3 1 3 . A n se r f e e d s . . .....................................................................................................................................V o )- V ' P1- p
G rey L ag G o o se .
A stationary species. Breeds in many parts of Scotland and Ireland. The original of our Common
Goose.
3 1 4 . A n s e r s e g e t u m ............................................................................................................................................................................................. '
B ean-G oo se .
A winter visitant. More common on the western than the eastern parts of Scotland and England.
3 1 5 . A n s e r bra ch yrh yn ch u s ^ ’
P in k -fo o t ed G o ose .
A winter visitant, arriving from the north in autumn ; plentiful in the wolds o f Yorkshire a t that season.
o l c I . . . V oL V .P l.IV ;
3 1 6 . A n s e r a lb ifro n s . . • • • • • • .
W h it e - f r o n t ed G o o s e .
This is also a winter visitant to the British Islands.
3 1 7 . A n s e r jegypt iacus.
Egyptian Goose.
Supposed by some to be an occasional visitor, by others that those which are occasionally seen are stray
individuals from some domestic home.
3 1 8 . A n s e r a lbatu s.
Cassia’s Snow-Goose.
See Howard Saunders, in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,’ March 1 8 7 2 , for an
account of two specimens of this bird-killed in Wexford Harbour in November 1 8 7 1 .