6 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



but I did not observe any of the barred markings above 

 mentioned. 



1862. On the 8th of March Captain Longe, then 

 residing at Yarmouth, purchased a fine specimen which 

 had been killed in the Caister marshes on the previous 

 day; another was said to have been shot at the same 

 time, but was not preserved. This bird had the barred 

 markings on the breast, but not on the vent, which is 

 pure white. Mr. Longe described the flesh of this 

 goose as more like wild duck than any he had eaten. 



1864. A male in my own collection, which I pur- 

 chased on the 5th of March, in the Norwich fishmarket, 

 had been shot on the previous day at Ludham, and was 

 sent up with a young white-fronted goose killed at the 

 same time. In this bird, when recently killed, the 

 beak was flesh-coloured, becoming purplish round the 

 edges of the mandibles and the nail white; feet livid 

 pink ; claws slate grey. Eoof of the mouth roughly 

 serrated and light pink in colour. Eyelids, white all 

 round ; irides dark reddish hazel. No appearance what- 

 ever of the white front, and only the faintest indication 

 of bars on the breast, although the feathers on the 

 flanks had a barred appearance, each dark feather being 

 conspicuously edged with a lighter colour. The stomach 

 was filled with grasses having a strong brackish odour, 

 with several small black pebbles, some as large as swan 

 shot. The bird was well nourished, but without much 

 fat, and the flesh though tough, much resembled wild- 

 duck in flavour. It weighed seven pounds and a half.* 

 On the 12th of the same month I purchased a second 

 specimen for the Norwich Museum, which had been 



* Daniel gives the ordinary weight of this goose as ten pounds, 

 but states that, "in 1799, one was shot at Horning Ferry [Norfolk], 

 which weighed twenty-three pounds," the weight of a highly- 

 fatted tame goose at the present day. 



