off seaward in a northerly direction. When feeding, which they do at the ebb o f the tide, or moving
from one place to another, they keep up a continual hoarse cackling or, as it is termed, honking
noise, which can be heard at a great distance, and has not unaptly been compared, when so heard,
to the cry of a pack of hounds. They are at all times extremely watchful, and .can only be approached
within gunshot by the person o f the shooter being concealed. This is effected, in the northern
parts o f the kingdom, by means of a flat-bottomed boat, so built as to. draw very little water,
and whose gunwale barely rises above the surface, varmed with a large fowling-piece that traverses
the half-deck upon a swivel. In this boat the fowler lies flat, and directs its motion by a paddle or
small oar till he comes within range o f the flock, when he fires either as they float upon the water
or just as they rise. Great havoc is sometimes made in this way, not only amongst the Brent Geese
but amongst Widgeon and other kinds o f wild-fowl, as we learn from Colonel Hawker’s amusing
treatise, to which I refer my readers, and where they will find every direction necessary for this
particular kind o f sporting. Upon Holy Island sandy flats, where the above method was introduced
about 1829, by a man from the Norfolk coast, I am credibly informed that about twenty-two Brent
Geese were killed and secured at one discharge during the season o f 1831. Previously to this mode
o f shooting being adopted, all the Brent Geese and different species o f Ducks upon our northern
coast were killed by moonlight, by fowlers placing themselves in various parts o f the lake and patiently
waiting for the approach o f the wild fowl as they flew about in quest o f feeding-places. Their polar
or summer migration is directed to very high latitudes, where they breed and rear their young in
quiet security.. The nest is formed o f vegetable materials, in the swamps o f those desolate regions;
and they lay ten or twelve white eggs. . , .. When captured alive, this Goose may soon be rendered
very tame (as I have found from experience), and, being a bird o f handsome figure and light
carriage, is a considerable acquisition on large pieces o f water. No steady attempts, however, appear
to have been yet made to increase the breed in a domestic state, though, as an article of food, it
is superior to most o f the Anatidce, and equally valuable in the quality o f its feathers and down.
When tame, it eats readily all kinds of grain, as well as grass and other vegetable diet.”
Mr. Thompson, who states that it is abundant in Ireland, occurring on both sides o f the island,
wherever there is plenty o f its favourite Zostera marina, gives a very long account of its habits, as
observed in Belfast Bay (vide ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ vol. ui.; p. 54). He says, “ they generally
arrive there by the first week of September, and sometimes remain until May. Strictly marine, they
fly to the deep water in the afternoon, and remain there during the night, and at sunrise return to
their feeding-grounds, generally proceeding in small flocks, and alighting altogether about the same
place, They are very wary, and avoid in their flight any objects with which they are not familiar.
They swim quickly, do not often dive, and usually remain but a short time under water.
It would seem that the food o f this bird varies according to circumstances : thus on the coast of
Northumberland it appears to feed on Ulva latissima, in Ireland and Scotland on Zostera marina, in
Hudson’s Bay on Ulva lactuca; and in America, according to Wilson, it also partakes o f “ small
shell-fish,”
Two eggs, from Parry’s second Expedition, presented to Professor Jameson by Mr. Fisher, are thus
described by Macgillivray:— “ One is two inches and a half in length by an inch and five and a half
eighths; the other, two inches and five-eighths by an inch and six and a half eighths. They are of
a nearly elliptical form, the broadest part being almost central, and one end a little larger than the
other; the colour o f one asparagus-green or pale greyish green, o f the other paler and approaching
to apple-green.” Mr. Hewitson, on the other hand, says, “ the eggs of this species differ from
those o f the other Geese in being slightly tinted with a faint brownish colouring, whilst they are all,
when quite fresh, either pure white or slightly tinted with cream-colour.”
Some slight variation occurs in the colouring o f different individuals ; but this, I think, is due to
age, and I believe that both sexes are alike in outward appearance at the .same period o f their
existence.
I cannot close this memoir o f the Brent Goose without recording my obligations to the Earl of
Enniskillen for his kindness in sending me a fine pair o f these birds from Ireland, for the furtherance
pf this work, and that I might have an opportunity o f testing the quality of their flesh as a viand,
which 1 found juicy and excellent. The average weight of the two birds was three pounds and a
quarter.
The Figures are about three-fourths o f the natural size.