236 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



although Mr. Seebohm says that they only go out to the sand- 

 banks at nightfall, I have seen flocks of them flying out, day 

 after day, as soon as the sand-banks beyond the bar at Wells 

 were left uncovered. They fly very high in the air, well out 

 of gun-shot, in small or large parties, in a V or W form, and 

 sometimes a couple of hundred or more will be on the wing 

 together, flock succeeding flock, and the sound of so many 

 Geese at once, uttering their musical " tin-trumpet "-like call, 

 is one which never fails to form an interesting experience to 

 the listener. 



Nest and Eggs. Similar in character to those of the Bean- 

 Goose. 



THE BRENT GEESE. GENUS BRANTA. 



Branta^ Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 67 (1769). 



Type, B. bernida (L.) 



In the Brent Geese the serrations of the upper mandible 

 are not visible from outside, and the cutting-edge of the man- 

 dible, or tomium, is almost straight. 



Count Salvadori recognises eight species of Brent Geese, all 

 of them inhabitants of the northern parts of the Old and New 

 Worlds, breeding in the high north, and coming south in large 

 flocks in winter. The large Canada Goose, which has been 

 kept in confinement in England for many years, and from 

 which all British-killed examples are believed to have escaped, 

 is a North American species, of which two other races B. 

 hutchinsi and B. octidentalis^ are recognised by American 

 ornithologists. The series in the British Museum is insufficient 

 for me to determine the value of these forms, but I agree with 

 Count Salvadori that they appear to be very doubtfully distinct. 

 Branta minima is, however, a small and well-defined race 

 belonging to Western North America. B. nigricans has the 

 same habitat, but occurs also on the coasts of Eastern Asia. 

 All the other species of Branta are visitors to Britain, and are 

 treated of in the following pages. 



I. THE BERNACLE GOOSE. BRANTA LEUCOPSIS. 



Anas leucopsis, Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 424 (1803). 



