THE BRENT GEESE. 243 



uater. The boats did not dare to close in, for fear the (Iccsc 

 should break. It was a tickHsh moment — the Geese would 

 not make the land. At last a single old Goo ;e, a Bean he 

 was, stepped out and ran up the bank. He was quickly 

 followed by one or two more, and then by the first of the 

 Brent. And now that they had started they went quickly 

 enough, scrambling after one another, and heading into the 

 net. Over the green they ran like a flock of domestic Geese. 

 Sometimes they aimed for right or left, but then the children 

 showed themselves and the Geese were turned. The last bird 

 was in, and then we closed the rear. Not a Brent had flown, not 

 a Brent had dived, not one escaped. Of all that army every 

 bird was in the net — a dense black moving mass." The kill- 

 ing of the Geese took some time, and then they w^re divided, 

 and ultimately cached. "The turf cut round w^th the axe, 

 w^iere the cloudberry grew thickest, was torn up with the 

 hands ; then the Geese were stood on their tails with their 

 heads tucked in, till the girls had made a circular group some 

 three or four yards across. Then the turfs were rolled back 

 on them a double layer, and the packing was complete." 



Nest. — The nest has been described by Colonel Feilden, 

 who found the species breeding in 82^° N. lat., during the 

 expedition of the Alert and Discovery to the Arctic Regions. 

 The eggs were laid in the third week of June. The nests were 

 situated on the sloping hillsi.les between the snow-line and the 

 sea, and were placed in a slight depression of the ground, Avith 

 a good foundation of grass, moss, and the stems of saxifrages, 

 and plentifully lined with a warm bed of down. 



Eggs. — Four or five in number; creamy-white, with a slight 

 gloss. Axis, 2-6-2'95 inches; diam., i75-i-9. 



III. THE RED-BREASTED GOOSE. EERNICLA RUFICOLLIS. 



Aiiser ruficoIUs^ Pallas, Spicil. Zool. fasc. vi. p. 21, tab. v. 



(1769); Seebohm, Br. B. iii. p. 515 (1885). 

 .Bemida ruficoUis^ Macg. Br. B. iv. p. 634 (1852); Dresser, 



B. Eur. vi. p. 403, pi. 416 (1876) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. 



p. 119 (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 281 



(1885); id. Man. Br. B. p. 395 (1889); Lilford, Col. 



Fig. Br. B. part xxi. (1892); Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 



xxvii, p. 124 (1895). 



R 2 



