314 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



6. The brent goose (very common). 



7. The bernacle goose (not infrequent, but 

 local). 



8. The red-breasted goose (very rare). 



As the gray-lag goose is said to have been the 

 progenitor of our tame variety, it must at one 

 time have been not only very common, and in 

 the habit of breeding in Britain, but also well 

 distributed. Now, however, it is by no means 

 a common bird anywhere in these islands, and is 

 only known to breed in the Hebrides and the 

 extreme North of Scotland. It is the largest of 

 the eight varieties, measuring thirty-five inches 

 in length. Its distinguishing characteristics are 

 as follows : Plumage white round the base of 

 the bill ; breast, whitish, with a few black marks ; 

 head, neck, and upper parts, grayish-brown ; under 

 parts, dirty white ; rump and wing-covert, bluish- 

 gray ; bill, legs, and feet, flesh-coloured ; the tip 

 of the bill (the ' nail,' as it is termed), white. It is 

 to be met with in England only from the autumn 

 to the spring, when it wanders Southwards. 



The white-fronted goose, otherwise called the 

 'laughing goose,' measures in length but twenty- 

 seven inches. It is a particularly handsome bird, 

 perhaps more so than any of the other seven 

 varieties. It derives its first name from the 

 white on its forehead and the white nail at the 

 tip of its bill, which latter is of an orange colour 

 (the legs and feet being also of the same hue), 

 its second mrs\^ from its peculiar note. It arrives 



