NATATORES, ANAT1DAE.
T H E W H IT E -FR O N T E D GOOSE,
OB LAUGHING GOOSE.
Anas albifrons, White-fronted Goose, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. ii. p. 235.
>t „ ,, Mont. Ornith. Diet,
»» „ Wild „ Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 311.
Anser erythropus, Laughing ,, Flem. Brit. An. p. 127.
H tt White-fronted Wild Goose, Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 266.
,, ulbifrons, „ ,, Goose, Jenyns, Brit. Vert, p, 223.
tt )t ,, n— Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xii.
Anas „ Oie rieuse, ou & front hldnc, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. ii. p. 821.
Anser „ „ ,, „ „ „ » „ » W PT
he W hite-fbonted, or Laughing Goose, may be considered
a regular winter visiter to this country, not usually so
numerous as the Bean Goose, but occasionally appearing in
very large flocks, and iïï^|i>më proportion to the severity of
the weather. This species frequents marshes and morasses,
rathenihan corn fields; and birds examined by Hr. Selby were
found to have their stomachs filled with the tender shoots and
leaves of the common clover. These birds are not uncommon
in the shops of the London poulterers- from November
till March, and are in some request for the table as one of the
best .among the different softs of wild geese» They are not
known to remain to breed in any part of this country in their
natural wild State, that I am aware o f; but a pair in the Gardens
of the Zoological SoGiety, have this season brought forth
their brood from one of the islands in the pond to which they
are .restricted, and show great anxiety for the safety of their
young. The egg is white, tinged with buff, and measures
two inches ten lines’ in length, by one inch and eleven lines
in breadth.
. This speciës'Ss a regular winter visiter to Ireland, and is
occasionally- killed in Wales. Large flocks were seen in
Cornwall and Devonshire, during the winter of 1829-80,
which frequented turnip fields. I t has been frequently killed
in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk,
Durham, and Northumberland. I can find no records
of its appearance in Orkney or Shetland. Mr. Richard
Dann’s note to me.bn this’ species is as follows :—•“
This is the Common Goose in Lapland, and by the
Laps called the Mountain Goose from its frequenting more
elevated districts than the Bean Goose. I t breeds in small
numbers south of Juckasiervi, in Tornea Lapland, but not
further west than Killingsuvanda. I t appears in great numbers
in the spring at Quickiock, but does not breed there.
None of the western parts of Swedish Lapland are adapted
either for Sandpipers or the Duck tribe, the lakes being
generally rocky, and the swamps not of sufficient extent.