GOOSE 277 



The etymology is given variously, from " gha/' to gape, to yawn, 

 or from gor, gore, or gaor, filth, dirt ; Brent goose, from Welsh 

 "brenig" or Breton "brennig," a limpet — elsewhere given as 

 "breunag," the dirty one ; the Gothic is "gos," German " Gans " ; 

 the term "barnacle" is said to be from "Branclakes" or "Barn- 

 clake," i.e., Bran claik, the dark coloured ; the name " Feadhan " 

 signifies the leader of a flock of wild geese, or the one which 

 sounds the well-known note, or whistle, of alarm ; this word 

 seems akin to "feadan," a whistle. Another word in Irish 

 Gaelic is "fedhan," signifying flight; the rain-goose is so called 

 because it makes a doleful sound before rain. The words " gail " 

 or " gale " are used in Teviotdale to signify a flock of geese, from 

 the loud noises made by them in their flight ; Celtic gal or guil. 

 Various and ancient beliefs long existed as to the origin of the 

 brent or barnacle goose, which are now exploded; one being that 

 these are not supposed to be able to generate like other fowls, and 

 were supposed to spring "suddenly" into life, that being the 

 etymology of the word "brent" ; another, that the acorn shell was 

 the parent ; another, that it was generated in shell-fish attached to 

 logs at sea (see Boeth. cosmographie, chap, xiv., for a circumstantial 

 account of this latter belief, wherein it is said to be " notably 

 proven in the Yeir of God ane thousand iiii hundred LXXXX., in 

 sicht of mony pepyll besyde the castell of Petslego ane gret tre 

 was brocht be alluvion and flux of the sea to land.") The above 

 is also given and certified in Gerard's Herbal, a Lancashire 

 publication, on page 1587. The writer hereof has seen a log, 

 which had drifted into the Minch or Sound of SI eat, perforated 

 with small holes about a quarter of an inch in diameter, from 

 which he saw extracted, when the log w^as cut up, and previous 

 thereto, several small oval shells which contained what seemed to 

 be like immature foids or birds. The ember or emmer goose is also 

 called " swim," and believed even to hatch their eggs under water. 

 Of the " Skeeling " goose Sibbald writes " Grana piperis reperiri 

 in ventriculo ejus." The entrails of a goose are said to be called 

 "giblion," but this is supposed a gross corruption of "gioban" 

 (see Solan Goose). The grey-legged goose, or "grey-lag," has 

 its habitat par excellence in the Hebrides, and gets much attention 

 from its predatory habits ; it is difficult to kill, and like most wild 

 geese requires most careful stalking. A Gaelic saying referring 

 to this is — 



Is sealgair thu 'nuair a mharbhas tu geadh, a's corr a's 

 crotach. 



Sportsman thou when thou killest goose, heron, and curlew — 

 " goose " comes first, it will be observed. 



For "souming" purposes in the North and West, sixteen 

 geese are said to equal one cow. 



A small island off Harris is called G'askeir — geadh sgeir, 



