BERNICLA KTJTICOLLIS.
BERNICLA RUFICOLLIS.
Red-breasted Goose.
Anas Tuficollis, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., torn. i. p. 611
— torquata, S. G. Gmel. Reise, tom. i. p. 181, tab. 14.
Anser rüficottis, Pall. Spie. Zool., tom. iv. p. 12, tab. 4.
Bernicla ruficollis, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 663.
If the Bernicla ruficoUh be not one o f the gems of ornithology, it certainly is the finest species of its own
particular family ; for no other Goose excels it in the richness o f its colouring or the fantastic character
of its markings. That a member of this usually sombre-coloured iamily of aquatic birds should be so
finely adorned, is somewhat astonishing, and cannot but have attracted the notice of every ornithologist.
In its structure, contour, gait, and carriage while walking over the green sward, its actions are as
pleasing as it is trim in appearance and beautiful in colouring. Of the extreme rarity o f the species
every ornithologist is fully aware, since few collections in Britain and still fewer on the Continent and
in America, can boast o f possessing examples. Why is this (when, unlike the Alca impennis, it is still
an inhabitant of our globe, and probably as abundant in the country where it is destined to dwell as
any other species of wild Goose is in its own particular locality) ? Because that country is a distant
one and, moreover, a part o f our globe which, if not inaccessible to man, is so sterile and inhospitable
a* to offer but little inducement for any one^to visit i t : the most northern regions of Siberia most
writers agree in stating' to be the true home of the Red-breasted Goose—a country unequalled for
the rigours o f its winter-season and for being as pestiferously hot at the opposite period of the
year. From this, its summer home, the bird probably migrates in winter towards the great
rivers and morasses o f the more southern parts o f Siberia, the Amoorland, China, and Persia,' a few
wanderers sometimes extending their peregrinations still further in the same or a more westerly direction,
and finding their way to Turkey, the mouths of the Nile, Holland, France, Italy, and even Britain,
where it uppears to have occurred more frequently than in any of the countries around it. Temminck
HtAtes that in Russia it is found about the estuaries o f the Rivers Ob and Lena. Latham says it breeds
t h a n d retires south in autumn, and also affirms that it frequents the Caspian Sea, returning north
in itmuM flocks as the summer approaches. At the time Mr. Yarrell wrote, two instances had
bet n recorded o f its occurrence in Scandinavia, one in Holland, one in France, and one in Germany;
<;r recently one has occurred in Italy, a specimen having been obtained on the 12th of February
between Scarperia and Borgo San Lorenzo, twenty-two miles (or thereabouts) from Florence:
•Mb The Ibis ’ for 1869, p. 242, where Dr. H. H. Giglioli states that “ it was an adult male, in full
nftge; and this is, I believe, the only well-authenticated instance of. the occurrence o f this rare eastern
Ihe first British-killed specimen was taken near London, at the beginning of the severe frost o f 1766;
pemed into the possession o f the celebrated collection formed by Marmaduke T(install, and is now
o f the most important specimens in the Museum o f Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Another, taken alive
#.r Wycliffe, in Yorkshire, about the' same time, soon became familiar, was kept among other Ducks
m ;« ptmd, but, though it associated freely with them and seemed partial to one in particular, never
■'•.¡■‘ ■i! young. It continued alive for some years, and then lost its life by an accident. Besides the
others have been killed near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Devonshire.
1 r-~- lug the Norfolk specimen, Mr. Stevenson informs me that “ the only example of this rare
: u in Norfolk appears to he that noticed by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, and also by the Messrs.
j' , as having been purchased by the late Mr. Lilly Wigg, at Yarmouth, which, by some unfortunate
§ pliiii: • . was plucked and eaten. It was said to have been shot at Halvergate, in 1805. Mr. Hunt, of
ij V ’Swveb, in his ‘British Ornithology,’ states that he was assured by Mr. Wigg that he purchased the
J' ||M0 m the Yarmouth market; other contemporary local naturalists give the same account o f it, hut I
ftj iumisli no farther authority. Mr. Gurney, however, tells me that he had feathers of this bird
1 pS§!\ to him by Mr. Sparshall, who received them from Mr. Wigg.”
i tk fhe Museum at Leyden there are two beautiful examples (an old and a young bird), which, I
m §£;"' «'Svftv*, were captured in Holland; an d 'I have one now before me, which has been kindly placed at
iWposal, for the furtherance o f the present work, by A. W. Crichton, Esq., who obtained it from
■ u.iord S. Allen, a gentleman whose travels and collections, formed in the neighbourhood o f the
, mv so well known. Mr. Frank, o f Amsterdam, assured me that he had every reason to believe,
. ^»formation which be considered to be authentic, that some few years since at least half-a-dozen