BRANT. 295 



The Brant feeds usually on the bars at low water, and now 

 and then also in the marshes ; its common fare is the laver 

 and other tender marine plants, and it now and then also eats 

 small shell-fish. In the spring the old birds are generally lean 

 and ill-flavored ; but in winter they are justly esteemed as a 

 delicacy, and sell at a high price. Brant never dive, but wade 

 about in quest of their food at the recess of the tide. At the 

 time of high water they swim out at their ease in the bay, 

 ranged in long lines, particularly during the continuance of 

 calm weather. 



The voice of the Brant is hoarse and honking, and when 

 gabbling in company, almost equals the yell of a pack of 

 hounds. When pursued, or nearly approached in a state of 

 confinement, these birds hiss like Common Geese. They are 

 often quarrelsome amongst each other and with the Ducks in 

 their vicinity, driving the latter off their feeding-ground. They 

 never dive in quest of food, yet, when its wing is broken, the 

 Brant will go a hundred yards or more at a stretch under the 

 water ; and it is then very difficult to obtain. About the mid- 

 dle of May it reappears on its way to the North, but at this 

 time rarely stops long, unless driven in by stormy weather. 



Brant have been found breeding very far north, — beyond latitude 

 82°, — -and Hagerup reports them as migrants only along the south- 

 ern shores of Greenland ; but numbers also breed probably on the 

 lakes near Cumberland Bay, and some doubtless go no farther than 

 the interior of Labrador. Large numbers linger on the northern 

 shore of Nova Scotia until about the ist of June, and then sail 

 away northward, gathering in one immense flock and rising in the 

 air to a great height. 



Brant are generally written down " marine birds ; " but Thomp- 

 son says they occur regularly in Manitoba, though not common, 

 and Coues saw them in vast numbers on the banks and mud-bars 

 of the Missouri River. 



