BARNACLE GOOSE 279 



The snow-goose {Choi hyperboreiis or albatus), of the Hudson Bay 

 district, which is too rare a visitor to the United Kingdom to be 

 entitled to a definite place in the British list, is the typical repre- 

 sentative of a small genus of Arctic geese characterised, among other 

 features, by the unusual stoutness of the beak and the white or bluish 

 plumage relieved by black wings. In the present species the plumage 

 is white, with the exception of the black wing-quills and the ashy grey 

 primary coverts ; while the legs and beak are red, with black borders 

 to the latter. Two of these geese were obtained out of a flock in 

 Wexford Harbour in November 1 871, and two in County Mayo in 

 1877, a party of three were seen in flight in Yorkshire in January 

 1 89 1, four on the Solway (perhaps belonging to the same flock) in the 

 same month and year, and a flock of twenty off the Northumberland 

 coast in January 1892, while one specimen was recorded from Ireland 

 in 1903, where two vv-ere taken in the following year. It will thus be 

 seen that although when it does visit our shores this species often 

 comes in parties, yet the total number of recorded visitations is only 

 seven ; and it is for this reason that it is not giv^en a definite place in 

 the British list. 



P The old legend connecting the barnacle, or bernicle, 



(BramrieueopIL). -°°'^ ^^^^ Bernicla bernida of many authors) with 

 the barnacle has been so frequently repeated that it 

 may be passed over on the present occasion with this bare mention. 

 Although not the typical representative, the barnacle goose is a member 

 of a small genus differing from the true geese by the circumstance that 

 the ends of the transverse plates on the under surface of the upper half of 

 the beak are not visible externally, and by the nearly straight (instead 

 of sinuous line) formed by the cutting-edge of the same half of the 

 beak. Such at least are the characters relied upon by ornithologists 

 in assigning the barnacle and brent geese to a generic group by them- 

 selves. The general observer will, however, probably be content to 

 recognise these birds by their handsome dark-coloured plumage. 



In the barnacle goose, while the front and sides of the head are 

 white, all the rest of the head and neck, inclusive of a stripe between 

 the beak and the eye, is black, as are also the beak, legs, and wing- 

 quills ; the upper-parts, on the other hand, are lavender-grey with 

 black and white bars ; and the under-parts, with the exception of the 

 grey-barred flanks, white. Twenty-seven inches is the length of the 

 gander, while that of his partner is an inch or so less. The weight 

 ranges from 5 to 5^ lbs. 



