188 ANSERINE. 



successfully, that we give an instance which occurred to the 

 notice of Mr. R. Glennon. 



"A countryman in the county of Longford having ob- 

 served, for several successive evenings, a large open drain re- 

 gularly frequented by flocks of these birds, felt sadly per- 

 plexed for the want of a gun either to beg or borrow, until 

 at last he recollected the existence of an old Spanish gun, 

 which had remained a fixture under the thatch for one half 

 century at least ; it was immediately taken down, minus lock 

 and stock, and fastened upon a piece of timber hardly suited 

 for the purpose. Having all in readiness, the same evening 

 he was creeping cautiously against the wind, toward 'a bank 

 he had erected in the drain ; succeeding in reaching it, the 

 barrel was quietly rested upon it, and a piece of lighted touch - 

 paper (tinder) applied to the touchhole, when, to use his own 

 words, 4 she went off beautifully,' so much so, that eleven 

 geese were lying dead and dying in the drain, whence all 

 were carried to his cot in a sack which had been brought for 

 the purpose." 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 181 THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



Anser erythropus. Linn. 

 Oie rieuse on a front blanc. Temm. 



White-faced Goose. Laughing Goose. Tortoiseshell Goose. 



THE WHITE -FRONTED GOOSE, with the exception of the 

 brent, is the most common in its occurrence of all our Irish 

 Anserinae, and is also that species which furnishes the greatest 

 proportion to the markets ; the early occurrence of which 

 furnishes the newspaper editors with the announcement of 

 " symptoms of a severe winter," as the first coming of some 

 few flocks of these geese are always duly chronicled. 



Our own knowledge of the white-fronted goose is only ob- 

 tained from the appearance of those occasional flocks which 

 we see assuming so many changing and beautiful appearances 

 in their aerial flight, and passing early in winter towards the 

 bogs of the inland counties, in most cases attracting attention 

 by their clamorous calling, for which reason they are indebted 

 to their other common name of laughing goose. 



On one occasion, near the Dublin mountains, a large flock, 

 consisting of some fifty or sixty individuals, attracted the at- 

 tention of our party by their loud, confused calling ; and, 

 whether from association, or their unexpected and beautiful 

 appearance in the V-shaped flight assumed by many water- 



