ANATTDJ3. 461 



the Bean Goose seem to be tolerably common, 

 especially in hard winters. 



The food of this bird appears to consist of grass, 

 the tender shoots and leaves of clover, and other 

 vegetables and corn. The one before mentioned as 

 having been kept in this pond lived mostly on barley 

 and the short grass on the lawn, of which it ate a 

 good deal. Meyer adds to the list of food " Marine 

 plants and insects, the remains of which are found 

 in its stomach, namely, beetles and other insects 

 and their larvae, and small pebbles." 



The Whitefronted Goose in its wild state does 

 not breed in this country, nor can I find any 

 description of its nest. In confinement it has been 

 known to breed, and has done so in the Zoological 

 Gardens, and it has also been known to cross with 

 the Bernicle Goose. 



The bill is of a reddish flesh-colour, the nail or 

 hard part at the tip is white ; the irides dark brown ; 

 all round the base of the upper mandible as far back 

 as the middle of the forehead is a patch of white, 

 above that a narrow dark, almost black, band ; rest 

 of the head and the neck all round greyish brown ; 

 the back and scapulars a darker shade of the same, 

 each feather tipped with dirty white ; rump nearly 

 black ; tail-coverts white ; lesser wing-coverts and 

 tertials rather darker than the back and without the 

 dirty white tips ; greater coverts of secondaries the 

 same, but narrowly tipped with white, the tips 



