BREXT GEESE. 213 



apron up to his chin. Should the weather be subse- 

 quently cold, numbers of geese perish from this bar- 

 barous custom. 



Brent geese frequent our shores in the winter ; in 

 Holland every eating-house is full of them. In Ireland 

 they are called barnacles, and appear in great numbers 

 in August, and leave that country in March. The 

 Brent geese feed on a kind of long grass growing in the 

 water, preferring the root and some part above it, which 

 they fi-equently dive for, bite off, and leave the upper 

 part to drift on shore. They abound near Londonderry, 

 Belfast, and the coast of Wexford, are taken in flight 

 time by nets placed across the river, and are much es- 

 teemed for their delicacy.- When I was in Ireland in 

 1805 — 6 as inspecting field officer of the yeomanry corps 

 of the counties of Carlow and Waterford, the barnacle 

 was a favourite dish both for dinner and supper, and 

 I found them excellent.* In some seasons they have 

 resorted to the coast of Picardy in France, in such 

 prodigious flocks as to prove a pest to the inhabitants, 

 especially in the winter of 1740, when these birds spoiled 

 all the corn near the sea coasts by tearing it up by the 

 roots. A general war was therefore declared against 

 them, and carried on in earnest by destroying them in 

 every possible way ; but their numbers were so pro- 

 digious that this availed but little ; nor were the in- 

 habitants relieved from this scourge until the north wind 

 which brought them ceased to blow. 



* At this period in Ireland vre usiially dined at four or half-past foiu- 

 o'clock, and at nine sat down to a hot supper, where I have seen a roast 

 turkey, and in the middle of the table a tureen containing hot water, 

 with floating marrow, and generally a dish of woodcocks or snipes, and 

 this repast was finished with hot whisky punch. 

 P 3 



