74 



BRENT GOOSE. 

 Case 87. 



Immense flocks of Brent Geese make their 

 appearance about the end of September or begin- 

 ning of October on the mudbanks in the firths on 

 the north-east coast of Scotland. In the Dornoch 

 and Cromarty Firths they perhaps collect in the 

 greatest numbers. 



On their first arrival they are remarkably un- 

 suspicious of danger, but from being constantly 

 harassed by the punt gunners they soon gain wisdom 

 and learn to provide for their own safety. Some 

 seasons back over 1,800 were bagged in six weeks 

 by one gunner alone in the neighbourhood of 

 Invergordon in Ross-shire. 



In severe weather they frequent all the muddy 

 harbours and creeks on the eastern and southern 

 coast, and here they also meet with another warm 

 reception, thousands falling victims to the swivel 

 guns, frequently twenty or thirty and occasionally 

 as many as fifty or sixty being obtained at one 

 discharge. 



On the approach of spring they again work 

 their way back and finally take their departure for 

 the summer about the end of March or beginning 

 of April. They seem to prefer the eastern to the 

 western side of the island. 



I have never met with these birds on inland 

 waters except on two or three occasions of heavy 

 snowstorms or protracted rough and stormy 

 weather. 



Though feeding almost exclusively on the 

 weeds on the salt water mudbanks their flesh never 

 acquires a fishy taste, and they are considered to 

 be the finest flavoured of all the Goose tribe that 

 visit our islands. 



The specimens in the case were shot at the 

 Little Ferry, a muddy harbour a couple of miles 

 south-west of Golspie in Sutherland in March, 1869. 



