F e m a l e .
Place and
Manners.
wing coverts, äfh-colour, clouded with a darker lhade: vent, and
upper and under tail coverts, white: the tail itfelf dulky black,
and a little rounded in lhape : legs reddilh black.
The female differs in having the plumage lefs bright; and in
young birds the white on the Tides of the neck is fmall, or
wholly deficient *.
Thefe birds, like the Bernacles, frequent our coafts in winter ;
and are particularly plenty, at times, on thofe of Holland and Ireland,
where they are taken in nets placed acrofs the rivers f . In
fome feafons have reforted to the coafts of Picardy, in France,
in fuch prodigious flocks as to prove a peft to the inhabitants,
efpecially in the winter of the year 1740, when thefe birds de-
ftroyed all the corn near the fea-cöafis, by tearing it up by the
roots; a general war was for this reafon declared againft them,
and carried on in earneft, by knocking them on the head with
clubs-, but their numbers were fo prodigious, that this availed but
little : nor were the inhabitants relieved from this fcourge till
the north wind, which had brought them, ceafed to blow, when
they took leave J.
They eafily become tame, and, being fatted, are thought to
be a delicate food. They breed pretty far north §, returning
ward in autumn. Fly in the fhape of a wedge, like the Wild
Geefe, with great clamour. Called in Schetland, Horra Geefe, from
being found in that Sound |[. Are common alfo in America: fre-
* Such is the Rat or Road Goo/e of Willughby. See Orn. p. 361. pi, 76.—
Brj. Orn. vi. p. 303. called La petite Bernache.
4 Br. Zool. p Hiß. des Oif.
§ la Greenland, where they frequent the northern parts in fummer, migrating
in docks to the fouthern in winter,— Faun. Groenl.
11 Aril. Zool•
3 quent
quent in Hudfon's Bay : breed in the iflands, and along the
coaft, but never fly inland : feed about high-w'ater mark : pafs
the winter in the fouthern parts, as in Europe. Their food con-
fifts of plants, fuch as the fmall biftort * and black-berried heath f ,
fea-worms, berries, and the like. In one we opened, the ftomach
was full of grafs. Are apt to have a fifhy tafte, but are in general
thought good food. The fame fable has been told of this
bird as of the Bernacle, in refpedt to its being bred from
trees. Called at Hudfon’s Bay, Wetha may pa wew.
Anas ccernlefcens, Lin. Syft. i. p. 198. 12. _ BLUE-WINGED
L’Oye fanvage de la Baye de Hudfon, Brif. Orn. vi. p. 275. q
L’Oie des Efquimaux, Buf. Oif. ix. p. 80.
Blue-winged Goofe, Edw. pi. 152.— Ar£l. Zool. N° 474.
Lev. Muf.
H pH IS is rather lefs than the tame Goofe. The b i l l is red: D e s c r i p t i o n .
£ jrides deep chocolate : crown of the head yellowifh, appearing
as if finged : the reft of the head and neck white, the laft
fpotted all the way down at the back part with black: the lower
part of the neck, all round the bread, Tides under the wings, and
back, dark brown, paleft on the breaft: wing and tail coverts
pale blueilh alh-colour: fcapulars and tail ftriped white and
grey: greater quills dulky: belly, thighs, and vent, white : legs
red.T
he female has the upper mandible black ; bafe of the lower F e m a l e .
lead-colour, with the tip black: forehead white: between the
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* Polygonum viviparum. Lin*
f Empetrum nigrum* Lin.
bill