WILD-FOWL: GEESE 197 



footed goose weighing over 7^ lb., I have shot many 

 weighing less than 6-|- lb., all adult birds. On one 

 occasion I shot a remarkably small goose of this species, 

 which weighed no more than 5 lb. 2 oz. It was a dapper 

 little goose of the sort, in good health and condition, and 

 apparently adult A Pink-foot of normal size measures 

 about 30 in. in length, and has a wing-spread of 4 ft. 



Bean geese are larger birds than those afore-mentioned, 

 and I see that I have shot these up to 8 lb. 6 oz. in weight. 

 Probably this cannot be regarded as the top weight for 

 this goose. I have found that the Bean geese generally 

 incline more to the marshland grasses than to the 

 uplands ; they do not take the extended inland flights 

 of their greyer relative last described. This species, 

 apparently, is the common grey goose of Ireland ; 

 which fact, perhaps, serves to show that it is more of 

 a marsh- than a stubble-feeder. The plumage of the 

 Bean goose is darker than that of the Pink-footed bird ; 

 it also exceeds the length of the latter by some three or 

 four inches. 



A North American goose, the Snow goose, A. Jiyper- 

 boreus, has visited these islands occasionally. There are 

 two distinct forms, a large and a small race, and the 

 former had not been mentioned as occurring in England 

 until the extremely severe frost of January 1891, when, 

 on the 1 5th of that month, I was fortunate enough to 

 come across three Snow geese, the incident being 

 recorded in The Field newspaper in the ensuing week. 

 Unfortunately I had not a gun in hand at the time, but 

 the birds flew over my house well within gunshot, and by 

 reason of their striking appearance, white plumage and 

 black wing-tips, they could not possibly be mistaken for 

 any other species of wild geese. These birds appeared 



