THE BllENT GOOSE. 55 



by the first week of September tliey are generally here. They 

 sometimes remain until May ; and in 1841, a few were seen 

 so late as the 20th of that mouth. In Wexford harbour, also, 

 they are said to arrive in September and leave in May.^ They 

 come later to the Northumbrian coast in the autumn, and depart 

 northwards earher in the spring. Mr. Selby, writing of it, re- 

 marks : — " In this locality tolerably-sized flocks usually make 

 their appearance in the early part of October, wdiich are increased 

 by the repeated arrival of others till the beginning of November, 

 at wliich time the equatorial movement of the species in this lati- 

 tude seems to be completed. -5^ -J^- -h- jj^ i\^[^ haunt they 

 remain till the end of February, when they migrate in successive 

 flocks, ^ -J^- ^- and before April the whole have disappeared " 

 (p. 272). A flock of these birds, supposed to be on migration, 

 was heard on the 9th of September, 1845, at 12 o'clock in the 

 night (which was very dark), flying over Holywood bank, Belfast 

 Bay. The weather being calm, they were heard from a great 

 distance as they approached, and afterwards as they passed over- 

 head ; — they kept a direct southerly course. 



Owing to their being so much disturbed of late years in this 

 locality, chiefly by the increase of shipping, they have not (unless 

 in severe weather) been in such abundance early in the winter as 

 formerly ; but in Strangford Lough they are as numerous as ever 

 at that period. About the month of March, the greatest num- 

 bers now appear in Belfast Bay ; and wild-fowl shooters believe 

 that they leave the comparative quiet of Strangford Lough after 

 having exhausted its Zostera pastui'e, as they have remarked the 

 banks to be closely cropped of the plant at this time. 



Dr. Fleming mentions this bird as " a winter visitant, frequent- 

 ing meadows and grass-fields ;"t and Mr. Jenyns says it " frequents 

 the sea-coast and also inland marshes" (p. 224) ; but is not the 

 bernacle, instead of the brent goose, tlie species thus alluded to ? 

 Those of Belfast Bay at least are strictly marine ; and I have never 

 heard of a single individual here, even when wounded, flying to 



* Major T. Walker. f Brit. Aniiii., p. 1^7. 



