BEAN GOOSE. 23 



Wretham in which neighbourhood at the beginning of 

 the present century, the notorious George Turner used 

 to slaughter wild geese as well as bustards by cunning 

 devices, occasionally getting a shot at the former by 

 "crowding" a wheelbarrow before him, covered with 

 green boughs. At Wretham, as Mr. A. Newton was 

 informed by the late Mr. Birch, in 1853, five wild geese 

 had for many successive years regularly made their 

 appearance a month earlier than the main body, and 

 in that year they had been seen by the 7th of October, 

 but these are quite as likely to have been pink-footed 

 as bean geese. 



Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear were evidently under 

 a wrong impression when speaking of the bean goose in 

 Norfolk as "met with particularly about Yarmouth," 

 as Messrs. Paget describe it as " less frequently met 

 with " than the grey -lag ; and Mr. Lubbock, though 

 referring to its abundance in West Norfolk, speaks of 

 wild geese, generally, as "not very abundant on the 

 Yarmouth side of the county." Occasionally, however, 

 I have known this species killed in severe winters near 

 Yarmouth, both at Hickling and Horsey, and stragglers 

 also in spring when about to leave us for the north. 

 From the extreme watchfulness of these birds I have 

 rarely known any obtained, except in hard weather, 

 when specimens have been sent to Norwich from the 

 neighbourhood of Wells, Blakeney, and Lynn; but 

 the winter of 1851-2, from its mildness both before 

 and after Christmas, was remarkable for the unusual 

 number and variety of wild geese killed in various parts 

 of the county. At that time, on the 20th of December, 

 I saw no less than three couples of bean geese, two 

 and a half couples of white-fronted, and two couples of 

 bernacle geese, a rare species with us, hanging for 

 sale at one time, having been killed at Hickling and 

 other localities more immediately on the coast. These 



