ioo THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



of the keepers, so apparently they are not always such exclusively 

 marine birds as they are commonly said to be. 



All of these birds which I saw were of the dark-breasted form, 

 Branta bernicla. At the suggestion of Mr O. H. Wild, Mr Wm. 

 Evans kindly examined one of the birds for me, and says that there 

 is no doubt as to the variety. This bird is being placed in the 

 Bute Museum. The white patches on the neck, in both my 

 specimens, almost meet in front, and the underparts are practically 

 as dark as the back. J. M. M'William, Craigmore, Bute. 



The Status of the Brent Goose in Orkney and 

 Shetland. I read with great interest Mr Abel Chapman's article 

 on the Brent Goose in your last issue, and was glad to find that he 

 criticised the first part of the statement made in the new B.O.U. 

 list that it is : "A winter visitor, numerous in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys and on the east and south coasts of Great Britain." 

 Following this we read where it is less numerous. So stated, 

 readers naturally infer that it is most numerous in Great Britain, 

 " in the Shetlands and Orkneys and on the east and south coasts of 

 Great Britain." Mr Chapman's surmise is correct, it is extremely 

 rare in Shetland and Orkney, so much so that local wildfowlers 

 cannot name it from a skin. The only record I could find of the 

 occurrence of the Brent Goose in Orkney was of three captured 

 in Stromness Harbour many years ago, and shown to me for 

 identification by a local gentleman who had had them stuffed as 

 extremely I'arce aves. They were nothing but skin and bone when 

 captured, he told me, and no wonder, as there is no suitable food 

 for Brent among such rocky islands, as Mr Chapman suggests. I 

 also venture to suggest that the species is dimorphic I spent 

 several winters in Orkney but never saw a Brent in the flesh. 

 H. W. Robinson, Lancaster. 



[Messrs Harvie-Brown and Buckley in their Fauna of the Orkney 



Islands do not seem to regard the Brent Goose as very uncommon 



there (see p. 167), and in Messrs Evans and Buckley's Fauna of 



the Shetland Islands, the Brent is stated to occur only on passage 



(p. 130). Eds.] 



