&> BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



the Russian sportsmen of Obdorsk. It is a very shy bird, and very difficult to 

 shoot, but curiously enough, reconciles itself at once to confinement, and soon 

 becomes tame." 



The Red-breasted Goose is less in size than the Bernacle, and about the same 

 size as the Brent Goose, and it has been known in confinement to pair with that 

 species. The female is rather smaller than the male, and both sexes are alike in 

 plumage. It is three years before they get the fully adult dress. Length twenty- 

 one to twenty-two inches ; wing fourteen inches.* It is said to be most excellent 

 eating. This reminds me that the only Norfolk example, of this extremely rare 

 bird, was purchased in the Yarmouth market, in 1805, by a local naturalist, and 

 horresco referens plucked, cooked, and eaten ; it is, however, some satisfaction 

 to learn that " its flesh was well flavoured." 



Family ANA 



BERNACLE-GOOSE. 



Bcrnicla leucopsis, BECHST. 



MUCH doubt exists as to the derivation of the common name of this Goose. 

 Professor Newton ("A Dictionary of Birds, part i, p. 31) says: "Dr. 

 Murray, under the word ' Barnacle ' in the New English Dictionary, gives as the 

 oldest known Bnglish form, the Bernekke, (Latinized Bernaca), of Giraldus Cam- 

 brensis, about 1175 ; and states that the Cirriped (Lepas anatifera) also so-called, 

 took its name from the bird, a kind of Goose, and not the bird from the Cirriped." 

 Great confusion also has existed between this and the next species regarding 

 their distribution, the names Bernacle and Brent having been applied to both, so 



* For a full description of the plumage of this beautiful Goose, see "Yarrell's British Birds," 4th Ed., 

 Vol. IV, p. 285. 



