Class II. BEAN GOOSE. ^33 



trade of our own country, attempted to render 

 them fit for use, first by baking, then by boiling 

 them ; but their stench was so offensive, that the 

 Glasgow merchants could not be prevailed on to 

 leave off their correspondence with Dantzic. 

 The disagreeable smell of these feathers must be 

 owing to the quantity of oil that all water fowls 

 use from the glandules of their rump, to preserve 

 and smooth their feathers ; and as sea birds must 

 expend more of this unction than other water 

 fowl, being almost perpetually on that element, 

 and as their food is entirely fish, that oil must 

 receive a great rankness, and communicate it to 

 the plumage, so as to render it absolutely unfit 

 for use. ', 



Anas segetum. A. clnereo-fus- pice albo. Lath. Ind. orn. 4. Bean 



ca, subtus albida, alis gris- 843. id. Syn, vi. 464. Goose. 



eis, tectricibiis majoribus Anas segetum, Gm. Lin. 512. 

 remigibusque secundariis a- Br. Zool. ii. 5~5. Arct. Zool. 



ii. 267. ^P: 



JL HE length of this species is tw o feet seven d 

 inches ; the extent four feet eleven ; the weight 

 six pounds and a half The bill, which is the 

 chief specific distinction between this and the 

 preceding, is small, much compressed near the 

 end, whitish and sometimes pale red in the middle, 



ESCRIP- 

 TION. 



