OCT. WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 3 



and geese frequent when in this region. After a 

 long search for the birds a sudden gleam of sunshine 

 showed us their yellow bills and white foreheads 

 conspicuously above the rough grass and herbage 

 of the swamp in which they were feeding. They 

 did not appear to have taken any alarm at us ; so 

 putting my self under the guidance of my old keeper, 

 who seemed to have a perfect knowledge of every 

 ditch and hollow of the ground by which an 

 approach could be made, I crawled and wormed 

 myself along to within sixty or seventy yards of 

 five of the birds. To get any nearer, unseen, was 

 impossible; raising my head, and trusting to Eley's 

 cartridges and No. 3 shot, I fired and killed a 

 brace of these very beautiful birds ; a third fell, 

 but rose again, and recovered himself. 



The white-fronted geese remained in or near the 

 same district, with only occasional absences, during 

 the whole winter, and until the month of April ; 

 their habits in this respect being very unlike those 

 of the bean-geese, who in this region are never 

 stationary for above a few days. The white-fronted 

 goose is the handsomest species, both as to form 

 and plumage, that we ever see in Scotland. The 

 full-grown birds are distinctly and beautifully 

 marked with black bands on the breast, and have a 

 pure white spot on the front of their head. They 



