BERNACLE GOOSE. 287 



quent experience of that locality, informs the Editor that he 

 has never met with it. Nor does it seem to be a frequent 

 visitor to the east coast of Scotland, and in Shetland Saxby 

 only observed it once : at Balta Sound, in July 1854. On the 

 west side it is much more abundant, and, according to Mr. R. 

 Gray, it is a regular winter visitor to certain favourite and 

 suitable feeding-grounds in the Inner Hebrides. Mr. Elwes 

 states that large flocks annually frequent Islay throughout the 

 winter, being partial to an island near Ardnave, where they 

 find plenty of grass. They are not so shy as the Grey Geese, 

 and both when feeding and when on the wing they keep up 

 a constant cackling, whereas the Grey Geese usually feed in 

 silence. The Bernacle Goose visits the coasts of Cumber- 

 land ; and in Lancashire, according to Mr. F. S. Mitchell, it 

 is a regular winter visitor, occasionally seen inland, and in 

 severe weather sometimes appearing on the coast in con- 

 siderable numbers. It has been obtained on the coast of 

 Wales ; and small parties are stated by Rodd to appear in 

 Cornwall now and then in severe winters. On the south 

 coast it is decidedly uncommon, although examples have 

 been recorded from time to time in Devonshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Sussex, Kent, and probably the entire littoral ; also occa- 

 sionally in some of the inland counties. 



In Ireland the Bernacle Goose appears to be very local in 

 its distribution ; and, according to Sir R. Payne- Gallwey, it is 

 comparatively rare in the south, but more common in the 

 north, north-west, and Dundalk Strand and Lurgan Green, 

 on the east. In many places the Brent Goose is misnamed 

 the Bernacle, but where they are distinguished the present 

 species is known as the 'White-fronted' or * Land ' Bernacle. 



This Goose is only a rare straggler to the Faeroes ; and 

 although Fabcr says that it inhabits Iceland from April to 

 October, it has not yet been proved to breed there. The 

 last remark also applies to Greenland, to some portions of 

 which it is a regular autumnal visitor, and Graah records it 

 from the east coast of that peninsula. Its occurrence on the 

 western side of Spitsbergen has been doubted, but the Rev. 

 A. E. Eaton states (Zool. s.s. p. 3815), that on his visit to 



