BEAN Goose. NATATORES. ANSER. 265 
ciently distant from the main land to afford a secure re- 
treat; and where the approach of an enemy must become 
visible, or at least audible to their acute organs, before it 
could endanger their safety. The haunts or feeding grounds 
of these birds are more frequently in the higher districts 
than in the lower and marshy tracts of the country, and they 
give the preference to open land, or where the inclosures 
are very large-—They feed much upon the tender wheat, 
sometimes injuring these fields to a great extent ; and they 
frequent also the stubbles, particularly such as are laid down 
with clover and other grasses. In the early part of spring 
they often alight upon the newly sown bean and pea fields, 
picking up greedily such of the pulse as is left on the sur- 
face; and I am inclined to think that their trivial name has 
been acquired from their apparent predilection for this kind 
of food, rather than from the shape and aspect of the nail of 
the upper mandible, to which it has been generally attribu- 
ted. They usually fly at a considerable elevation, either in 
a diagonal line, or in two such lines, opposed to each other, 
and forming a leading acute angle, like the other species ; 
o, In which 
ro) 
the voices of the two sexes may be easily distinguished. 
and when on wing they maintain a loud cacklin 
The rate at which they move, when favoured by a gentle 
breeze, is seldom less than from forty to fifty miles an hour, 
a velocity which enables them to have their roosting place 
far removed from the district they frequent by day. The 
principal breeding stations, or summer retreats, of the Bean 
Goose are in countries within the arctic circle ; it is said, how- 
ever, that great numbers breed annually in Harris, and some 
of the other outermost Western Islands. The nest is made 
in the marshy grounds, and formed of grasses and other dry 
vegetable materials ; the eggs are white, and from eight to 
twelve in number. The trachea of this species increases in 
diameter towards the middle, and the bronchiz are short and 
tumid. The denticulated lamina of the sides of the bill are 
similar in formation to those of Anser palustris, and form 
Food. 
