OCT. WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 6 



when in this region. After a long search for the 

 birds a sudden gleam of sunshine showed us their 

 yellow bills and white foreheads conspicuously above 

 the rough grass and herbage of the swamp in which 

 they were feeding. They did not appear to have 

 taken any alarm at us ; so putting myself under 

 the guidance of my old keeper, who seemed to have 

 a perfect knowledge of every ditch and hollow 

 of the ground by which an approach could be 

 made, I crawled and wormed myself along to within 

 sixty or seventy yards of five of the birds. To get 

 any nearer, unseen, was impossible ; raising my 

 head, and trusting to Eley's cartridges and No. 3 

 shot, I fired and killed a brace of these very beau- 

 tiful birds ; a third fell, but rose again, and reco- 

 vered himself. 



The white-fronted geese remained in or near the 

 same district, with only occasional absences, during 

 the whole winter, and until the month of April ; 

 their habits in this respect being very unlike those 

 of the bean-geese, who in this region are never 

 stationary for above a few days. The white-fronted 

 goose is the handsomest species, both as to form 

 and plumage, that we ever see in Scotland. The 

 full-grown birds are distinctly and beautifully 

 marked with black bands on the breast, and have a 

 pure white spot on the front of their head. They 



b2 



