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 18G9, 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 daylight,
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 Macgillivray the Pink-footed Goose is not very uncommon in the south o f 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 o f 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 o f Harris, as well as those o f the interior o f North U ist; but this statement would seem to he
founded in error, since Capt. Elwes says, in ‘Th eIbis’ for 1869, p. 22, I think there can be little doubt that
the only Goose that breeds in any part o f Scotland is the Grey Lag (Anser feru s) ; and the best evidence in
favour o f this view is that of Mr. J. Macdonald, o f Scolpig, who has resided all his life on the Outer
Hebrides, where it is a common custom to rear Geese from eggs that have been laid by wild birds; and he
assures me that none o f these eggs have ever produced any but Grey Lags with the nail o f 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 Scotland,
cannot yet be announced as obtained in Ireland, though particularly looked for o f late years.
I have alluded to the high northern localities visited by this bird in summer, in confirmation o f which I
may mention that we have the authority o f Mr. Newton for stating that Mr. Proctor, of the Durham University
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 o f July. Dr. Malmgren seems to have met with at least
two nests in the upper part o f the Sound, from both o f which he shot the female bird. The second was
obtained at Mittelhook, in the same Sound, on the 10th o f July. According to Dr. Malmgren, the species
also occurs in Hinlopen Strait and Stor Fjord.” In a review of Herr Robert Collett’s ‘ List o f the Birds o f
Norway’ in ‘The Ibis’ for 1869, it is stated that “ the Anser brachyrhynchus has at last been recognized as
breeding in the north o f Norway.”
Temminck states that this species has been several times killed in France, where it occasionally appears as
a migrant, as it probably does in several other countries o f Europe, but has there been confounded with A .
segetum, from which it differs but little. It had only been observed during the severe winters o f 1829,
1830, and 1838, and always in very small numbers, which kept together and did not mingle with the flocks
o f common ge e se ; a peculiarity which the bird also evinces in captivity, since M. de Lamotte, o f Abbeville,
kept three individuals in an enclosure in company with A.ferus, A . segetum, and A . albifrons; but they always
remained apart and evinced no disposition to ally themselves with either o f them ; and a male in the Gardens
o f 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 which they were surrounded.
Meyer says:— “ Towards the spring 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 d ay; 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 o f the foremost family.”
The number o f eggs laid by this goose has not been ascertained. The female belonging to the Ornithological
Society, and kept on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, deposited eight, which, Mr. Yarrell
says, were rather less than those o f a Bean-Goose, o f a pure white, and measured 3 | inches in length by
2 i inches in breadth.
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 o f a pair of goslings obtained by him
in Ice Sound, on the western side o f Spitzbergen.
The figures are about, or perhaps a little more than, half the natural size.