THE SHORT-BILLED GOOSE. 4-1 



alighting for a few minutes among them^ after which it flew onward 

 and was seen no more.'^ 



I have known a wounded bean goose eat bread, potatoes, 

 and oatmeal dougli from the hand, the second day after capture. 

 Although partaking of boiled potatoes, it much preferred them 

 uncooked. 



A sporting friend, residing in the south of Ayrshire, has occa- 

 sionally met with bean geese in the bogs there, and sprung them 

 from among beds of wild roses, on the fruit of which (" a small 

 mountain species,") they must have been busied feeding, as proved 

 on dissection of those killed. In Ireland, also, he once remarked 

 the gizzard of this goose to be fdled with the fruit of the rose.f 

 I have found roots of plants in one. Water-cresses are said to be 

 much eaten by this bird at Dromedaragh. The bean goose was 

 the only one known to the gamekeeper at Ardimersy, Islay, in 

 January 184*9, as frequenting that island, which it does regularly 

 in winter. It does not breed there. 



A very interesting account of this species and of the white-fronted 

 goose wiU be found in St. John^s ' Wild Sports, &c., of the High- 

 lands,' chap. xix. p. 151-158. 



The short-billed or pink-footed Goose — {Amer brachyrhyn- 

 chus, Baillou, Anser phoenicojms, Bartlett) though not uncommon in 

 England or Scotland, cannot yet be announced as obtained in Ireland, 

 though particularly looked for of late years. This is very singular, 

 and more especially if there be no error in the statement that the 

 bird breeds in numbers in some of the small islands of tlie Hebrides. J 

 If it do so, we should expect flocks at least to pass over, and 

 occasionally alight on Irish ground when migrating to or from those 

 haunts. All the wild geese wliich I have seen in a fresh state in Belfast 

 were either A. segetum or A. albifrons ; and in Dublin, those species, 

 with the addition of A. ferus. 



* Olev. G. M. Black. 



t Dr. Kiehardson, iu the ' Faiina Boreali- Americana,' remarks that (he "Anser 

 albifrons and A. hi/perhoreus feed chiefly on berries" (p. 439). 



\ Mr. John Matgillivra\'. 



