BARNACLE-GOOSE. II 



animal food — molluscs and worms — on or In the ooze of tidal 

 estuaries. Naturally its movements are largely regulated by the 

 tide, and it occasionally feeds in the dusk. The birds, in long 

 lines, follow the receding water, their angled necks bent as 

 they gobble the sea-grass, or are slowly driven back by the 

 flood, still feeding ; in shallow water they swim and dip their 

 heads to drag up the weed, or upend like ducks, their white 

 sterns alone visible. The Brent walks gracefully, can run 

 fast, and flies with considerable speed. A disturbed pack 

 flies hither and thither, taking ordered formation only when 

 travelling for a distance. The flight call is loud and metallic, 

 a double note frequently repeated. At high tide the birds 

 swim in the open, avoiding the shore, but return as soon as 

 the banks are exposed. 



Adult Brents have the head, neck, upper breast, and back 

 slate-black, a small white patch, in which black is often 

 mingled, on either side of the neck. This patch varies in size, 

 and occasionally meets in front, forming a more or less complete 

 ring. The lower neck is slate-grey, the sides of the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts white. In the dark-breasted form the under 

 parts below the breast are slate-brown, showing distinct whitish 

 bars on the flanks ; in the paler form the lower breast is brown 

 and the rest white or suffused with grey. The bill and legs 

 are almost black, the irides dark brown. Immature birds are 

 browner, and the neck spot is hardly visible. Length, 22 ins. 

 Wing, 135 ins. Tarsus, 2 ins. 



Barnacle-Goose. Branta kucopsis (Bechst.). 



The Barnacle-Goose (Plate 7) nests in Greenland, Spitz- 

 bergen, and probably elsewhere in the Arctic, and in winter is 

 common in northern European seas, and occasionally reaches 

 the Mediterranean and Azores. It is more frequent in the 

 Hebrides than the Brent, and is plentiful on the west coast of 



