BeERNICLE Goose. NATATORES. ANSER. 269 
propriate specific names has arisen amongst succeeding wri- 
ters, they having still continued the appellation Erythropus 
to the Bernicle, instead of giving it to its proper object. 
TremmMinck and BecustTe1n, who saw the impropriety of re- 
taining a specific name so inapplicable to the species (whose 
legs and feet are black), instead of restoring that imposed by 
the predecessors of Linnaus, gave it the new one of Leu- 
copsis ; and also neglected to transfer that of Erythropus to 
its real representative, the Anas albifrons of GMELIN and 
Laruam. Dr Fiemine, however, in his “ History of Bri- 
tish Animals,” has now rectified these errors, and the White- 
fronted and Bernicle Geese are each described under their 
appropriate titles of A. Erythropus and A. Bernicla—The 
Bernicle is amongst the number of our winter visitants, an- 
nually resorting in vast numbers, upon the approach of 
autumn, to the western shores of Britain, and to the north 
of Ireland. Upon the Lancashire coast, the Solway Frith, 
&e. it is very abundant; frequenting the marshy grounds 
that are occasionally covered by the spring-tides, and such 
sands as produce the sea-grasses and plants upon which it 
feeds. Upon the eastern and southern shores of Britain it 
is of rare occurrence, its place being supplied by its nearly- 
allied congener, the Brent Goose (Anser Brenta); which 
again is as rarely seen upon the opposite coast of the island*. 
Like the rest of its genus, the Bernicle is a very wary bird, 
and can only be approached by the most cautious ma- 
neeuvres. It is sometimes shot by moonlight, when it comes 
on the sands to feed, by persons crouched on the ground, or 
from behind any occasional shelter, in such places as the 
flocks are known to frequent. Its flesh is sweet and tender, 
* WixLouGuey, in his valuable “ Ornithology,” (page 360, edit. 1678), 
mentions having seen the stuffed skin of the Bernicle in Sir W. ForsTEr’s 
hall at Bamburgh Castle, which I consider indicative of its scarcity on the 
Northumbrian coast at that period, being doubtless hung up as a rara avis. 
Brent Geese are still to be seen in great numbers in Budle Bay, not more 
than a mile to the northward of Bamburgh Castle. ; 
Periodical 
visitant. 
Food. 
