THE BERNICLE GOOSE, 159 



known to all punters on this coast up to this day as 

 1 the great shot.' It occurred by night. The best 

 shot I ever made at these birds, by day, was \i\ 

 couple, but I have often killed 25 to 30 couple of 

 Wigeon at a discharge of my largest gun, carrying 

 two pounds of shot." 



Brent are not commonly regarded as geese in 

 Ireland. If inquiries be made whether wild-geese 

 visit any particular place, Wexford, for example, the 

 answer will be, " Not often, only Wigeon, Divers, 

 and Bernicle (i.e. Brent) are shot by the fowlers 

 here." 



Absurd to narrate, the old story of Brent Geese 

 being hatched from barnacles on drift timber is uni- 

 versally current on the coast of Ireland to this day. 

 Nothing will dissuade the fishermen and fowlers ; 

 they will vow they have seen the occurrence them- 

 selves ; or that their friends have. Though these 

 folk rightly declare Brent to be the geese so sup- 

 posed to be brought out, the well-known story 

 speaks of Bernicle, though wrongly called so, as the 

 Brent is of course intended. 



THE BERNICLE GOOSE (Anser leucopsis), like the 

 Brent, is very local in its distribution, and on some 

 parts of the coast it is known as the " White-fronted 

 Bernicle," to distinguish it from the black-headed 

 and darker-breasted Brent. It is almost a rare 

 species in Ireland, seldom seen in the south, but 

 more common to the north and north-west and east. 



Bernicle have once or twice been shot off the 

 Waterford coast, and I obtained three near Kilcre- 

 dan lighthouse, co. Clare, in January 1881. They 

 are most unusual visitants to the south-west of 



