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Genus BERNICLA. 



Anser apud Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 304 (1760). 



Anas apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 198 (1766). 



Branta apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 67 (1769). 



Bernicla, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563. 



Bufibrenta apud Bonaparte, Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 648 (1856). 



The Bernacle Geese differ chiefly from those included in the genus Anser by their short, narrow 

 bills, and in having the feathers on the neck as in the Ducks, and not disposed so as to form 

 ridges and grooves. They inhabit the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions, ranging in winter into 

 the northern part of the Ethiopian Region and also the southern part of the Neotropical Region. 

 Three species inhabit the Western Palaearctic Region. 



In general habits these birds do not differ from the true Geese ; and like them they feed on 

 vegetable substances. They are very shy and wary, frequenting open localities ; and, like their 

 allies, they feed a good deal at night, especially when the nights are moonlight. They breed in 

 high latitudes, and place their nests, which are constructed of grasses and moss, lined with down, 

 on the ground, and deposit several uniform creamy-white eggs. 



Bernicla brenta, the type of the genus, has the bill much shorter than the head, subcorneal, 

 higher than broad at the base, narrowing to the end, unguis broadly ovate ; edges of the bill 

 straight, the outer ends of the lamellae scarcely visible; nostrils oval, placed in the anterior 

 portion of the nasal depression, near the centre of the bill ; wings large, the second quill longest ; 

 tail short, rounded ; legs short, stout, placed well forward ; tibia slightly bare, the tarsus 

 reticulate ; hind toe small, anterior toes long, united by a membrane ; claws small, obtuse, that 

 on the middle toe broadly rounded; plumage full, close, the feathers on the neck narrow, 

 blended. 



The Canada Goose, Bernicla canadensis, a species much larger than either the Brent or 

 Bernacle Geese, has been included in the British list; but, inasmuch as it is a bird that is 

 frequently kept in a semidomesticated state, it seems probable that the specimens recorded were 

 escaped birds, and I have therefore deemed it best to exclude it. 



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