458 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



BEAN GOOSE, Anser Segetum. It is only lately 

 that I have been able to add this species for certain 

 to the Somersetshire list, although I thought that, 

 like the Greylag Goose, it must have occurred, 

 though no notice had been taken of it. Happening, 

 however, to be at one of the poulterer's shops at 

 Taunton about the middle of December (1868) when 

 a basket of birds from the marsh was brought in, 

 I helped to unpack it, and found two of the present 

 species of Goose, two Whitefronted Geese, about 

 twenty Wigeon, four or five Goldeneyes (females or 

 young birds), two Curlews, and a lot of tame Ducks 

 at the bottom. The two Bean Geese, I was sorry 

 to find, were too much mauled about for me to have 

 any chance of stuffing them, although I wanted them 

 very much for my collection : I managed, however, 

 to identify them by the bill and legs. The marsh 

 was at that time much flooded, looking, from the 

 Quantock Hills, more like a sea than valuable 

 pasture-land, and it had been in this state all the 

 winter, consequently Wigeon and some few other 

 wild-fowl were more numerous than usual in our 

 market ; but, with the exception of the four Geese 

 just mentioned, I have not seen anything that could 

 be considered rare or noteworthy. 



The Bean Goose is the most numerous of all our 

 Grey Geese, and remains to breed in some parts of 

 England, but more frequently in Scotland, where it 

 is said to make its nest amongst the high heath and 





