200 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



open coast, and to a great extent the quantity of these 

 geese visiting any section of the coast is regulated in 

 accordance with the luxuriance or otherwise of this sub- 

 marine pasturage. One distinguishing mark in the 

 coloration of the Brent goose is a small patch of white 

 on each side of the neck, but in the yearling birds this is 

 absent, or nearly so. Fully-grown birds of the species will 

 measure up to 22 in. in length, and I find that I have 

 shot them weighing upwards of 3^ Ib. One killed off 

 the Essex coast weighed 3 Ib. loj oz., and this must have 

 been a biggish bird compared with others killed about 

 that time, for in my notes the remark is appended that 

 it was a fine and heavy specimen of the dark-bellied 

 form. This goose, however, was weighed on my getting 

 ashore some two or three days after being shot, as I had 

 no scales or weights on board the yacht from which I 

 was shooting. Thus, doubtless, it had lost considerably 

 in weight during that time ; if weighed at the time of 

 shooting it would probably have been found to weigh 

 some ounces more. This, however, does not by any 

 means constitute the highest record of weight for this 

 bird, for, according to some authorities, Brent geese 

 weighing 4^ Ib. have been killed. The rare and 

 strikingly handsome Red-breasted goose, previously 

 mentioned, is about the same size as the Brent. The 

 Canada goose, Bernicla canadensis, is sometimes shot by 

 wild-fowlers in this country, but as these birds are kept 

 on several waters, it is always difficult to say whether 

 birds so obtained are truly wild or not. 



