WHITE-FACED BERNICLE-GOOSE. 627 



dately and prettily, being more active than the larger Geese. 

 Their food consists of grass, especially the juicy stems of 

 Agrostis alba, as well as the blades and roots of other plants. 

 They also feed in marshes, and by the margins of pools and 

 small lakes. I have not seen them betake themselves to the 

 sand-shoals' covered with sea-grass at low water, nor have I 

 had any other opportunity of seeing them, unless at a dis- 

 tance, when I could not distinguish them from the Black- 

 faced Bernicle. The oesophagus of the individual whose 

 intestinal canal is described above was packed full of grass 

 in its whole length, none of it in the least macerated ; the 

 duodenal contents were greenish, and the coeca filled with a 

 pulpy fluid of a yellowish-green colour. 



I am not aware of any good account of its habits given, 

 from his own observation, by any British ornithologist. 

 Some of our writers, in speaking of it, endeavour to conceal 

 their ignorance, or to atone for it, by amusing their readers 

 with the once prevalent notion of its deriving its origin from 

 the Bernicle shell, the Lepas anatifera of Linnseus. This 

 curious fancy, which no doubt arose from the slight resem- 

 blance of the filaments of that animal to the sprouting 

 feathers of a young bird, is still entertained by many persons 

 along our coast; but, like the milking propensity of the 

 Goatsucker and the winter submersion of Swallows, it might 

 now, I think, be allowed to rest in its grave. 



According to the statements of authors, the White-faced 

 Bernicles arrive and depart at the same periods as the Brent 

 Geese, frequent the same situations, and have similar habits, 

 but are of less frequent occurrence ; and being usually con- 

 founded with them by those whose ornithological knowledge 

 is not very perfect, they do not attract particular regard. 

 Dr. Edmondston informs us that they are only occasionally 

 seen in Shetland ; but Messrs. Baikie and Heddle state that 

 numbers arrive in September and October, and remain until 

 spring, at which time they receive considerable additions 

 from flocks migrating northwards. They have been seen in 

 the Clyde and Solway friths, as well as on the Lancashire 

 coast, but seem to be rare in England. On the east coast of 

 Scotland I have seen a few indiduals shot at Peterhead and 



