THE BRENT GOOSE 317 



have, visiting us during the winter in great 

 numbers, and more or less frequent throughout 

 Great Britain. It is rarely seen inland, but seeks 

 its food on the muddy and sandy shores, and is 

 most numerous on the East coast. It measures 

 about twenty-three inches. The head, neck, and 

 throat are black, w r ith a curious triangular patch 

 of white on either side of the neck ; the upper 

 parts are of a brownish-black, the under parts 

 of a slate-gray ; the vent white. 



The bernacle goose the bar goose, as it is 

 at times called is a winter visitor, chiefly 

 to the Western coast of Great Britain and 

 the East coast of Ireland. It is by no means a 

 common bird. Some authors state that its name 

 is derived from the peculiar black mark round its 

 eye, which, being on a white ground, presents the 

 appearance of a pair of spectacles, or 'bernacles,' 

 as they were formerly termed ; others, that it was 

 supposed to be hatched from the bernacles found 

 in salt-water. The sides of the head are white ; 

 the forehead, neck, shoulders, and upper breast 

 black ; the under parts gray ; the vent white ; the 

 back blue-gray ; the bill, legs, and feet black. 

 In length it is twenty-five inches. 



Including three varieties of the eider duck, 

 three of the scoters, the goosander, three varieties 

 of the merganser, and the smew, there are, in 

 addition to the eight varieties of the wild-goose 

 already mentioned, and three of the swan, to which 

 I do not intend to refer, no fewer than thirty-one 



