240 BRENT GOOSE. Class II. 



These birds frequent our coasts in the winter : 

 in Ireland they are called Bernacles, and appear 

 there in great quantities in August, and leave 

 it in March. They feed on a sort of long 

 grass groAving in the water ; preferring the root 

 and a portion of the stalk, which they dive for, 

 bite off and leave the upper part to drive on 

 shore. They abound near Londonderry, Bel- 

 fast, and JVe.vjord, are taken in flight time 

 in nets placed across the rivers, and are much 

 esteemed for their delicacy. 



These birds migrate to most remote places to 

 lay their eggs. They are found on the little 

 isles on the coast of Greenland* and again 

 ; on those off Spit zber gen, where they were dis- 



covered on their nests in vast numbers in June 

 Q\, \59Q,^y Barentz.'\ They appear in small 

 flocks in Hoy Sound, in the Ork?iies, but do not 

 continue there ; on the contrary, they winter in 

 flocks of two hundred in Horra Sound, in the 

 Shetlands, and are called there Horra geese. 



The Rat or Roadgoose, of Mr. Willughby, 

 p. 361, which at times has been known to fre- 

 quent the Tees^ agrees in so many respects with 

 this kind, that we suspect it to be a young 

 bird not come to its full plumage : the only 



* Faun. Groenl. No. 41. 



t Dutch Voyages, See. ip. Arct. Zool. ii, 275. 



