BRENT GOOSE. 293. 



and then only to a limited extent. "When searching for food 

 in shallow places the head and neck are extended below the 

 surface ; and the black line of the assembled multitudes on 

 our coasts is then seen to be broken and dotted by the raised 

 white ' sterns ' of the feeding birds. Aquatic plants and 

 seaweeds, especially Zostera marina, with small crustaceans 

 and marine insects, form their principal nutriment ; and 

 from their habit of searching for the former, their northern 

 names ' Rotgaus,' ' Road Goose,' i.e., ' Root Goose,' appear 

 to have had their origin. 



The call of this species is a loud ' cronk,' or ' honk,' which 

 can be heard several miles away. Hawker, Wilson, Shep- 

 pard and Whitear, Thompson, and others, have testified to 

 its resemblance to the sound of a pack of hounds in full 

 cry ; and the last-named ornithologist describes the excite- 

 ment of a horse he was riding on being evidently deceived 

 by the distant notes of a ' gaggle ' of some 500 Brents. 



So far as the Editor can judge from the scanty series with 

 accurately assigned localities, available for comparison, there 

 are two forms of this species which visit our shores ; the 

 one with the uuderparts somewhat light-coloured, from the 

 Atlantic ; and one with a darker breast and abdomen from 

 Novaya Zemlya, and perhaps Arctic Siberia ; the latter is 

 not, however, to be confounded with B. nigricans of Alaska. 

 The darker form appears to be the prevailing one on our east 

 coast ; but Mr. Cordeaux informs the Editor that in the 

 winter of 1880-81 there was an unusual number of the light- 

 bellied birds in the Humber district. 



In the adult male the bill is black, and only one inch and 

 a half in length ; the irides very dark brown, almost black ; 

 the forehead low, the head small and black ; the neck all 

 round black, except a small patch on each side, Avhich is 

 white, but mixed with a few regularly-placed black feathers ; 

 back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials, dark brownish- 

 black, the edges a httle lighter in colour ; primary and 

 secondary quill-feathers black ; the rump black ; upper tail- 

 coverts white ; tail-feathers black ; upper part of the breast 

 black ; lower portion of the breast and the belly slate-grey. 



