n8 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



BRENT GOOSE (Anser torquatus). This, the smallest 

 of the British geese, has been shot in many localities in 

 the two counties, but it will perhaps not be uninterest- 

 ing if I enumerate the instances of late years of its 

 occurrence. In 1865, a person named Bunce shot a pair 

 of these geese near Datchet ; and it has been obtained 

 on many other occasions in the vicinity of Windsor and 

 Eton. One was killed on the Thames near Eton during 

 the hard winter of 1866-67. Mr. Sharpe told me of one 

 which was shot in the winter of 1866, on the river near 

 Cookham. In severe weather small flocks visit the 

 large reservoirs in the neighbourhood of Drayton 

 Beauchamp, as the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe was good 

 enough to write me word. Two were killed at Surley 

 by an Eton waterman in January, 1867, and many 

 more were seen at the same time. 



Colonel Hawker observes : ' To kill Brent Geese by 

 day, get out of sight in a small punt, at low water, 

 and keep as near as possible to the edge of the sea ; 

 you will then hear them coming like a pack of hounds 

 in full cry, and they will repeatedly pass within fair 

 shot, provided you are well concealed, and the weather 

 is windy enough to make them fly low. Before you 

 fire at them spring suddenly up, and these awkward 

 birds will be in such a fright as to hover together, and 

 present a mark like a barn door.' * 



HOOPER (Cygnus ferus). The Hooper, Wild, or 

 Whistling Swan, is a winter visitor to this country 



* ' Instructions to Young Sportsmen.' 



