166 BIRDS. 



of Stenness, Harray, Boardhouse, etc. I have never seen it 

 except in the neighbourhood of the loch of Harray." The same 

 gentleman gives several dates on which he saw these birds, 

 from 1884. He saw a flock during very severe weather in 

 March 1888, at the loch of Harray, and remarks that the bad 

 weather from the 9th to the 21st of February, when all the 

 lochs except the loch of Stenness were frozen over, did not 

 drive them away. The largest flock Mr. Irvine-Fortescue ever 

 saw consisted of about fifty birds, their usual number being 

 from six or seven up to thirty. A skin of this species in 

 that gentleman's collection is of a remarkably light colour, 

 almost that of an albino. 



Mr. Cameron of Burgar House also informs us that the 

 White-fronted Goose is very common about certain lochs in 

 that neighbourhood, and he has shot many specimens. On 

 one occasion he slightly wounded one of these geese, which 

 he took home, and kept in company with some Grey-lag Geese, 

 where we saw it in 1888. Mr. Cameron also saw an albino 

 with a flock of ordinary-coloured birds, from which, however, 

 it seemed to keep slightly apart. 



This species stops until quite late in April, and on one 

 occasion an egg was picked up on a long green point running 

 out into a loch much frequented by these birds, which Mr. 

 Cameron presumed had been dropped by one of them. 



Mr. Irvine-Fortescue says the White-fronted Geese "are 

 particularly local in their habits, every winter frequenting 

 the same spots, and never seen far from their usual haunts. I 

 can understand this in the Brent Goose, but the White-fronted 

 feeds in new grass fields, stubble fields, and on newly-sown fields, 

 all of which are found all over Orkney." 



Bernicla brenta (Pall). Brent Goose. 

 Orc.^Horra, Goose (Low). 



In the Statistical Account of Orkney it is stated that this Goose 

 only visits Deer Sound, Hoy Sound, and the Westray Firth, and 

 no other part of Orkney. 



Mr. Bryce M. Eanken obtained some Brent Geese from 



