ANATIDAE—SWANS.
197
into some British lists because often found at large, especially during
winter. It has no right to a place on the British list. Probably those
which occur in Essex from time to time have escaped from Kimberley
or Gunton in Norfolk, at both of which places Mr. Gurney informs me
a good many are bred annually. " After being once shot at these go
away, and no doubt some of them leave the county. Others remain at
large, and are quite unapproachable." Mr. Clarke mentions (24) an ex-
ample (still in the Walden Museum) killed at Radwinter on Apr. 24th,
1836. Four were seen at Harwich on June 27th, 1877 (Kerry—40. i.
525). Early in December, 1879, one, weighing twelve and a half pounds,
was shot out of a group of six, by Mr. J. J. Hawkins, near Middle
Wycke, Burnham (Chelmsford Chronicle, Dec. 12) ; and about the middle
of the same month, during a spell of severe weather, a flock passed
over the Maldon district (Chelmsford Chronicle, Dec. 26). Dr. Bree
records one (29), shot on the seashore at Wix, where it was feeding
alone, on the long-to-be-remembered 18th of Jan., 1881. He adds that
" it cost the shooter a severe frost-bite of the ends of his ten fingers,"
and that it had probably escaped from some ornamental water. At
Harwich, "some are seen nearly every year" (Kerry).]
Red-breasted Goose : Bernicla ruficollis.
A very rare straggler to Great Britain, of which a single specimen
happens to have been killed in our county.
Mr. Harting has recorded (34. 2513 : & 29. Jan. 21, & Feb. 4), that a speci-
men was shot out of a flock of Brent Geese at Maldon, on Jan. 6th, 1871, and
added to his Collection. The sex was not ascertained. This is the twelfth
and last recorded British specimen, and the first met with since 1845.* Mr. E. A.
Fitch, who has taken some trouble to investigate the history of this specimen,
writes (50. iii. 35) :—
" It was on Jan. 6th, 1871, that Henry Handley, with his brother John, Josiah
Pitt, John Basham, and seven others, were gunning on the Ray Sands, popularly
called the 'Main,' when amongst a quantity of Slack (Brent) Geese they shot
one of the rare Red-breasted species (Bernicla ruficollis). It was shot off the
south part of the Bachelor Spit—in the bight of the Bachelor—and was picked
up, winged, by Josiah Pitt. The birds were brought home and given to Henry
Handley to hawk round the town of Maldon, as was his wont, at two shillings
each, but nobody would have the 'foreigner,' so Handley had resort to Robert
Blanks, a local bird-stuffer, now deceased, and, after abating sixpence off his two
shillings, sold it to him. Blanks set up the bird and took it to Mr. Richard
Poole, who identified it by Yarrell as the Red-breasted Goose, and wrote to the
Editor of the Field, asking what it was worth. Mr. Harting replied that he
would willingly give five pounds for the bird, should it prove to belong to the
species represented. Blanks, of course, was willing to sell at this (to him)
enormous price, and the specimen became Mr. Harting's property. When this
gentleman parted with all his birds that were stuffed and set up, limiting his Col-
lection to skins only, the specimen was knocked down at Stevens' Rooms on the
6th of June, 1872, for £31 10s., to John Marshall, Esq., of Belmont, Taunton, in
whose possession it still remains [37. iv. 282]."
Mute Swan : Cygnus olor. Locally, " Tame Swan."
Common in a more or less domesticated state on ornamental
waters. It has been admitted to the British list for many years, but
* It is worth mention that Montagu (p. 127) says:-" One, Dr. Latham informs us [Syn.,
vi., p. 455], was shot near London [very likely in Essex] in the severe frost of 1766." Harting
says (38. 156) that " according to Fox (Synop. Newe. Mus.), this date should be 1776."