BRENT GEESE IN SCOTLAND 215 



BRENT GEESE IN SCOTLAND. 



By J. G. Millais, Lieut.-Commander, R.N.V.R., F.Z.S., etc. 



I CONSIDER that Misses Rintoul and Baxter are right in 

 calling attention to the "two forms of Brent Geese" which 

 visit Scotland in the winter, because the distribution of the 

 light and dark forms are far more marked than they are in 

 England. 



Having pursued wild-fowling and natural history for the 

 past forty years on the coast and islands of Scotland, where 

 I have visited, sometimes frequently, every resort of wild-fowl, 

 I can speak with some experience of the distribution and 

 colour differences of the Brent Goose. 



My friend, Mr Abel Chapman, doubtless knows the Geese 

 of his own coasts, i.e., the north of England, intimately, but 

 does he know the Geese that are resident or migratory in 

 Scotland ! I think not, or he would not confine himself to so 

 strong a statement as " every wild-fowler who has enjoyed 

 personal acquaintance with Brent Geese in Great Britain (as 

 I have done for forty odd years) speedily learns the elementary 

 fact that in every big pack of these Geese, whether on British 

 or Irish coasts, there are found associated together individuals 

 that display every grade of colour. There are many whose 

 breast plumage is as dark as their backs ; others are almost 

 white beneath ; whilst every intermediate gradation of tone 

 is in evidence." Doubtless Mr Chapman is correct if this 

 statement applies to English or Irish packs of Brent Geese; 

 and judging by what I have seen on our eastern coasts of 

 England, and of the birds that come to our London markets, 

 it is correct, but it is very wide of the mark when we come to 

 examine the colour of the Scottish birds and their distribu- 

 tion. Briefly, my experience is as follows : 



In Shetland occasional flocks occur on migration, but it is 

 not resident in winter. In Orkney it is a rare visitor to 

 Deer Sound and Sanday. I have only seen one in twelve 

 years' shooting there, and that was a dark-breasted bird. 

 69 2 A 



