THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 149 



weeds and grass, which they tear up by the roots. 

 Bean Geese are the slaves of weather ; scarce a wind 

 can blow that does not in some respect affect their 

 movements. When frost sets in, they are driven 

 for sustenance to the tide. A south-west breeze, 

 an unsheltered one in most places, will drive them 

 off the bays and harbours. They much dislike 

 wet, boisterous weather, and during its continuance 

 remain in their mountain haunts. A north wind 

 unsettles them ; a north-east wind, again, will bring 

 them to the coast, in anticipation of frost ; a change, 

 and they are on their travels once more. Frost, if 

 continued, tames and starves them, till they are 

 refused in the market, and not worth powder and 

 shot. At such times, I have known shore-shooters 

 kill from twelve to thirty in a day, as the birds flew 

 restlessly hither and thither in search of food, or 

 unfrozen pools in which to wash and drink. 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (Anser albifrons] is 

 a regular winter visitant to the south of Ireland, and 

 not uncommon in severe weather. It may then be 

 seen in gaggles of from a dozen to fifty. During the 

 winter of 1879-80 a gaggle of twenty-three White- 

 fronted Geese, and another of fifty, were counted 

 by Mr. Percy Smith at Headborough, co. Water- 

 ford. They were numerous about the open fields 

 in the frost of January 1881, and many were shot 

 in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, and Wex- 

 ford, as well as north of the Shannon. Instances of 

 their capture in the extreme north and north-west 

 of Ireland (where they are always abundant) are too 

 common to record. In January, 1881 the best 

 month for rare wildfowl that ever occurred, to my 



