228 SHOOTING. '^ 



will not afford more or less of wild goose sliooting. If going on | 

 the water, or into the marshes, after these bu-ds, does not suit the | 

 sportsman's convenience or choice, by attending the brooks and I 

 small rivers that are only partially frozen, and followmg then- coui'se, ' 



he may frequently find cliversion, and be ahnost certain of meetn 

 ing with some of these bnds. There are many localities on the 

 moor districts of the north of England where these wild geese 



frequent every winter, even when it has not been very cold or 



The Siberian Goose (Jnser BuficoUis, Limi.)— This is called the 

 laughing goose, or white fronted. These are seldom seen in this 

 country. Colonel Hawker teUs us, that they Avere unknown here 

 tiU the frost of 1830, when there were eighty of them alighted in a 

 field near the village of Wilford, where, he says, they were l3eset by 

 a swarm of gumiers, and attacked, but only Avith very moderate 

 success. The §-allant Colonel liimseK succeeded, however,_ on the 

 foUoAvdng day, m bringmg down twenty. They are described as 

 very har^ to kiU. 



The Cormorant {Pelicanus Corbo, Linn.)— There are three va- 

 rieties of this bnd known to shooters; the great black, the cole- 

 goose, and the crested. The common cormorant Aveighs about 

 from four to seven pounds, and the size varies from thirty-five 

 inches to four feet six inches in breadth. The bill, to the corners 

 of the mouth, measui-es four inches, and its ridge tAvo and three 

 quarters. It is of a dark horny consistency, and the tip, or nail, 

 of the upper bill is much hooked and sharpened. Erom the base 

 of tins it is furrowed on each side nearly to the top, without any 

 visible appearance of nostrils. The lower biU is compressed, and 

 covered, about the gape of the mouth, Avith a naked yeUoAvish 

 skin, extended under the clun and throat, where it hangs loose, and 

 forms a kind of pouch, Avhich, together Avith the springing blade on 

 each side forming its rim, is capable of extension to a great Avidth, 

 and by it the bird is enabled to SAvalloAV prey apparently too large 

 to be admitted into its throat. The skin about the eyes is naked, 

 and of the same colour as the pouch ; the eyes, which haye a re-, 

 markably wild stare, and are placed near the bill, look like tAVC 

 little greenish glass globes. The croAvn of the head and neck are 

 black ; and on the hinder part of the former the feathers appeal 

 elongated, and form a sort of loose crest. In some s}pecimens oi 

 the connorant the throat is Avhite, Avith a kind of stripe passing 

 from, it, upwards, behmd each eye. In others the cheeks and tliroal 

 are mixed Avith brown and white ; AvhUe in other species the heac 

 and neck are streaked Avith scratches of the latter colour. The 

 middle of the belly is Avhite, with a patch of the same colour ovei 

 each tliigh. All the under parts, hoAvever, together Avith the back 

 and rump, are commonly of a glossy blue black, AA-ith green shades 

 The shoulders, scapulars, and wing-coverts, are of a bronze broAvr 

 hue, tinged and glossed with green; and each feather is borderec 

 Avith sliining bluish black. The secondary quills are nearly of th( 



