WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 163 



THE WHITE-FRONTED, or Laughing Goose, may be con- 

 sidered a regular winter visitor to this country, not usually 

 so numerous as the Bean Goose, but occasionally appearing 

 in very large flocks, and in some proportion to the severity 

 of the weather. This species frequents marshes and mo- 

 rasses, rather than corn fields ; and birds examined by Mr. 

 Selby were found to have their stomachs filled with the 

 tender shoots and leaves of the common clover. These 

 birds are not uncommon in the shops of the London poul- 

 terers from November till March, and are in some request 

 for the table as one of the best among the different sorts 

 of wild Geese. They are not known to remain to breed 

 in any part of this country in their natural wild state, that 

 I am aware of; but a pair in the Gardens of the Zoologi- 

 cal Society have brought forth their brood from one of 

 the islands in the pond to which they are restricted, and 

 exhibited great anxiety for the safety of their young. The 

 egg is white, tinged with buff, and measures two inches 

 ten lines in length, by one inch and eleven lines in breadth. 

 This Goose has also produced a brood by union with a 

 Bernicle Goose. 



This species is a regular winter visitor to Ireland, and is 

 occasionally killed in Wales. Large flocks were seen in 

 Cornwall and Devonshire during the winter of 1829-30, 

 which frequented turnip fields. It has been frequently 

 killed in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Suf- 

 folk, Norfolk, Durham, and Northumberland. Sir William 

 Jardine killed two in Dumfriesshire with his rifle in Feb- 

 ruary, 1845. I can find no records of its appearance in 

 Orkney or Shetland. Mr. Richard Dann's note to me on 

 this species is as follows : 



" This is the Common Goose in Lapland, and by the 

 Laps called the Mountain Goose from its frequenting more 

 elevated districts than the Bean Goose. It breeds in small 



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