THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 16 1 



This goose is not uncommon about Carney Strand 

 and Striedah Strand, some ten miles from Sligo ; 

 also near Oyster Island and Strandhill in that dis- 

 trict. On the east coast they are to be seen at 

 Dundalk Strand and Lurgan Green, a place alluded 

 to by Thompson in his " Natural History of Ire- 

 land," as a favourite haunt for these geese forty 

 years ago ; it is yet one of the few localities which 

 they still visit in large numbers. The steward over 

 the Marsh Farm at Lurgan Green (the property of 

 Lord Clermont), who is described by his employer 

 as being a man most intelligent in such matters, in 

 reply to queries kindly instituted for me by Mr. 

 Patterson, writes, "Yes, Bernicle come every winter, 

 about the loth of October, and leave the middle of 

 April. They are fairly numerous ; from TOO to 500 

 may sometimes be seen together; they are not much 

 disturbed or shot at, and they have never been 

 known to remain the summer. On one occasion 

 last winter (i 880-81), I saw a large gaggle of more 

 than 500 Bernicle on the banks of the floodgates, 

 sitting in the shelter on a stormy evening. They 

 had white breasts and cheeks as you describe." 

 Lord Clermont adds, that his steward well knows 

 the difference between the Brent and Bernicle. 

 The latter, it appears, have come in greater num- 

 bers of late, than in the earlier years of the present 

 embankment, which forms the seaward boundary of 

 the Marsh Farm. During high tide they feed a 

 short distance inland on grass, and fly to the strand, 

 where they eat the weed that grows on it, at low 

 water. 



Mr. Sheridan, who is well acquainted with the 



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