148 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



lands that lie near the tide. A small proportion 

 will, in the mildest weather, frequent the mud-banks 

 to feed and rest. They usually quit their inland 

 haunts at dusk ; disliking to remain on land by 

 night, where dogs, men, or cattle, may disturb them, 

 and accordingly fly to the estuaries to rest and feed. 

 At first dawn they again wing inland, and pass 

 the day in open, unapproachable ground. They 

 are very abundant in Tipperary, Limerick, Cork, 

 and the midland counties, where they find their 

 food to perfection. On several occasions I have 

 found Bean Geese so starved as to allow a capture 

 by hand, and quite unable to accompany their 

 fellows to the tide, when hard frost has caused 

 them to desert their usual pastures. In the hard 

 winter of 1814, a curious accident occurred on 

 Lough Derg, Upper Shannon, as recorded in an old 

 diary in my possession. A great gaggle of Bean 

 Geese were seen to alight near its upper end on 

 the ice, and so remained for the whole day. In the 

 evening a shepherd walked across the frozen surface 

 to an island, dragging with him fodder for the sheep 

 upon it. Crossing over the spot on which the wild- 

 geese had been resting, he fell through and was 

 drowned, the heat of their bodies against the ice 

 having so melted and thinned it, that it was unable 

 to bear the weight of the man and his load. - 



The Bean Goose is furnished with a most suitable 

 bill for grazing, and can cut off wet soft grass or 

 young shoots as with a sharp pair of scissors. The 

 Bernicle and Brent being nearly always (the latter 

 entirely) marine feeders, do not require this power 

 of cutting to the same extent, for they live on 



