THE BRENT GOOSE. 63 



but these were carried off. The birds were supposed to have re- 

 mained in consequence of having been wounded, as were others, 

 since seen and shot there in summer. 



Although the brent goose is a wary species, it becomes at once 

 tame, when wounded, and on the first day of its captivity under 

 the cabin roof of the wild-fowl shooter, has eaten of oats or por- 

 ridge. In one instance known to me, it drank water from a cup 

 held in the hand, and nibbled over the fingers of its cup-bearer as if 

 seeking for food. This bird preened its plumage, too, on the floor 

 of the house, some hours after capture, and seemed in all respects 

 as much at home as if it had been on the high seas. I have fre- 

 quently known these birds, when slightly wounded, and secured 

 from again taking flight by being pinioned, kept at couptry seats, 

 where there were ponds, about Belfast. They remained there ap- 

 parently quite contented at all times, except at the migratory sea- 

 son, when they became very uneasy, running backwards and for- 

 wards, flapping their pinioned wings in extreme anxiety to be off 

 to far northern summer haunts. Some kept at the Falls, without 

 being enclosed, had to be narrowly watched every year when under 

 the influence of the vernal migratory movement. They then wan- 

 dered as far northward as they could proceed with their disabled 

 wings. One, kept at Cranmore, the residence of John Temple- 

 ton, Esq., for nineteen years, acted like those just described every 

 spring for about the first twelve years ; after which period it 

 ceased to exhibit any particular feeling at that season. These 

 brent geese either fed on grass, like the tame geese, or took 

 share of whatever food was supplied to poultry or other domestic 

 birds about the place. A flock of seven — all birds obtained by 

 being wounded — kept for the last two or three years by Mr. R. 

 Chute, in Kerry, resort to the fields and feed wholly on grass. 

 Brent geese are mild and gentle in disposition. At the Falls, 

 where they were kept for many years, they were never seen 

 either to quarrel among themselves (of wliich bernacle there 

 were occasionally guilty), or with other birds, as Wilson accuses 

 their American brethren of doing. The shooters of the north of 

 Ireland bear testimony to the good and amiable character of the 



