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AQUATIC FOWL. 



surroiinding is a large patch of orange brown ; front of the lover 

 part of the neck and breast fine orange brown the latter mar- 

 gined with a list of black and another of white; bill reddish 

 brown, with the nail black ; legs blackish brown, with a reddish 

 tinge. 



THE BERNICLE GOOSE 



Is a native of the high northern latitudes, of both Europe and 

 America, and, in autumn, migrates southwards. They visit our 

 islands during the winter, and resort to the western shores of 

 Britain, and the north of Ireland, and are abundant on the coast 

 of Lancashire and in the Solway Frith. They are shy and wary, 

 and can only be approached by means of the most cautious 

 manoeuvres. They frequent marshy ground, covered with spring 

 tides, feeding upon sea-shore grasses, the fronds of various algse, 

 and particularly of the laver, or sloak. 



The Bernicle breeds in Iceland, Spitzbergen, Greenland, Lap- 

 land, the north of Russia, and of Asia, and the neighbourhood 

 of Hudson's Bay. It is of handsome form, and, from the length 

 of the tarsi, stands high on the limbs. Its flesh is most excellent. 



It is a singular fact, that, in the early ages, men of learning 

 and science, disseminated the absurd idea, that those geese were 

 produced from trees, growing on the Orkney Islands. From the 

 ends of the branches, were small-swelled balls, containing the 

 embryo of the goose, suspended by the bill, and when ripe, fell 



