390 



Juv. capite et collo sordidioribus, maculis in colli lateribus minoribus : corpore subtus saturate fusco, abdomine 

 imo et subcaudalibus albis : hypochondriis albido fasciatis. 



Adult Male (Point Lepreaux, New Brunswick, 7th April) . Entire head, neck, upper breast, and fore part 

 of the back deep glossy black, except the chin and sides of the head, which are duller black ; sides of the 

 neck clearly marked with pure white ; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts dull dark brown, the feathers 

 having lighter brown edges ; rump blackish brown ; sides of the rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail 

 and quills blackish brown ; lower breast and underparts generally white, the lower abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts pure white, the rest of the underparts indistinctly barred with pale ashy brown, the flanks 

 ashy brown, the feathers margined with white ; under wing-coverts dark brown with a greyish tinge ; 

 bill and feet black; iris dark brown. Total length about 23'5 inches, culmen l - 5, wing 12"6, tail 4 - 2, 

 tarsus 2*1. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male. 



Young in autumn plumage (Skara, Sweden). Differs from the adult in having the black on the head and 

 neck duller ; the white markings on the sides of the neck are less clearly defined ; the upper parts are 

 rather duller in colour; the black on the breast is duller and gradually merges into dark brown, which 

 latter colour pervades the underparts down to the lower abdomen, which, with the under tail-coverts, is 

 white ; flanks barred with dull white. 



Like its ally, the Barnacle Goose, the present species inhabits high latitudes during the summer 

 season ; but it has a wider range than that species, being met with throughout the northern 

 portions of Europe, Asia, and North-east America, migrating southward during the cold season. 



It occurs on the coasts of Great Britain in larger or smaller flocks in the winter season, 

 especially during severe weather, and is, Yarrell says, considered to be one of the most numerous 

 of the Geese that visit our shores, but is most frequently met with on the south and east coasts, 

 though it occurs in every part where suitable localities are to be found. Mr. Stevenson informs 

 me that in Norfolk " this small species is both a regular and abundant winter visitant to our 

 coast in autumn, its numbers increasing with the severity of the weather, and in very hard winters 

 is met with in immense flocks. About Yarmouth, as described by the Messrs. Paget, it is not 

 uncommon ; but its chief resorts are the flat sandy shores of the northern and western parts of the 

 country; and so essentially is this a marine species, that it is rarely met with on the broads or 

 other inland waters." Mr. Cordeaux states that in severe winters and long-continued frosts it 

 occurs in immense flocks off the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coasts, as also within the estuary of 

 the Humber ; Mr. Hancock states that it is a common autumn and winter visitant to the coasts 

 of Northumberland and Durham ; and Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 351) as 

 follows: — "Throughout Western Scotland the Brent Goose is much less common than the 

 Bernacle Goose — a circumstance arising probably from a comparative want of suitable feeding- 

 ground. It is therefore more local in its habits with us than on the eastern shores, where such 

 places as the Firths of Beauly and Cromarty prove so great an attraction. Though it occurs in 

 the Outer Hebrides, one can never calculate with certainty on seeing it, as in the case of the 

 Bernacle. A few are known to frequent the west side of Lee and South Uist. Its visits are, of 

 course, strictly confined to the winter months. In the centre of the inner islands the best-known 

 haunt of the Brent is in Islay. A large flock is annually observed at Loch Indaal, a locality much 



