BRENT GOOSE. 427 



referred to it as a winter visitant to the Doncaster " Carrs." 

 It has also occurred at Beverley, Thicket Priory, Strensall 

 Common, near York (where a flock of twenty-eight was seen 

 on 17th March 1881), Thirsk, Wensleydale, near Northallerton, 

 and other places which it would be tedious to particularize. 



Important and interesting evidence of the existence of 

 the Brent in this county in pre-historic times is afforded by 

 the discovery of fossil remains in Kirkdale Cave, the par- 

 ticulars of which are furnished by Mr. Lydekker in the Ibis 

 (1891, p. 390). 



Both the white and dark-bellied forms occur in Yorkshire, 

 the former variety being abundant in the Humber in the 

 winter of 1880-81 ; I obtained a pair belonging to this form 

 at the Teesmouth in 1879 ; an example of the small race, 

 having very dark under parts, which I have seen, was taken 

 at Deighton, near Northallerton, and is now in the possession 

 of Mr. E. B. Emerson of Tollesby. 



Mr. J. E. Harting informs me, on the authority of the 

 late Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, the eminent conchologist, that, in 

 the stomach of a Brent Goose, shot on the Yorkshire coast, 

 were found specimens of a mollusc {Crenella faber), the only 

 known locality for which is the Sea of Ochotsk ; thus prov- 

 ing that wild-fowl will travel enormous distances in a short 

 time. 



The local names are : — Black Goose in general use ; Scotch 

 Goose at Flamborough ; Rock Goose on the Humber ; and 

 Road or Rhode Goose at the Teesmouth ; the latter terms are 

 given by Swainson in the variant forms Rat or Rott Goose, 

 and Road or Rood Goose, and in " Notes and Queries," 15th 

 December 1855, the term " Gabriel Hounds " is applied to 

 this species. (For folk-lore of Gabriel's Hounds, see Grey Lag.) 



[The Canada Goose {Bernicla canadensis, L.) and the 

 Egyptian Goose {Chenalopex cegyptiaca, Gm.) have occurred 

 in Yorkshire, but, as these species have been introduced, 

 and are semi-domesticated, it is impossible to discriminate 

 between " escapes " and feral birds.] 



