WHITE- FRONTED GOOSE. BERNACLE GOOSE. 189 



birds, all agreed in the wild beauty of the call-note as it was 

 gradually lost in the distance. Like the bean goose in appear- 

 ance, it bears a resemblance to it in habits, and commits the 

 same havoc during early morn on the newly planted grain. 



Of the true wild geese, this is the most beautiful in 

 plumage, some adult birds, with the richly mottled mark- 

 ing on the abdomen, almost justifying the name given it by 

 the dealers of wild fowl, of u tortoiseshell goose." 



Like all of the Anserinae, the white-fronted goose thrives 

 well in confinement. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 182 THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 



Anser bernicla. Flem. 

 Oie bernache. Temni. 

 White-faced Bernacle. Norway Bernicle. 

 THIS very beautifully-marked species is the most local in dis- 

 tribution, and one of the most uncommon in its occurrence 

 of the family to which it belongs. Rarely observed in our 

 bay, we have abundant testimony of its rarity over the island, 

 from appearing so very seldom in the markets of the city 

 during winter. 



Only on one occasion has the bernacle come under our ob- 

 servation, in January, 1850, when a flock, consisting of 

 twenty birds, passed closely overhead in the vicinity of the 

 Pigeon House Wall, all calling in unison ; the sound was sin- 

 gularly pleasing, resembling some distant murmuring. 



Differing from the preceding species, we might class the 

 bernacle and brent goose as sea-geese, to distinguish them 

 from the more inland habits of the others : as neither of those 

 birds, unless on very rare occasions, are obtained inland. 



Characterized by the most watchful and vigilant habits, 

 when flying from the bay or neighbourhood of the shore, 

 they invariably repose upon any exposed sand-bank which 

 may appear to view, and are only to be obtained by " scrapes" 

 and u blinds," or barrels sunk in the ooze in the direction in 

 which they fly to and from their feeding stations. 



It may not be unworthy of remark, that this species was that 

 which the earlier naturalists selected to apply the legend declar- 

 ing it to be produced from trees overhanging the sea, growing 

 in the remote Hebridal islands, an idea which was at onetime 

 widely and permanently disseminated ; it being also believed 

 that each extremity of the branch contained a small, round- 

 shaped ball, which, when sufficiently ripe, dropped from the 



