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until they have eaten up all on the island. They are not so shy as the Grey Geese, and, when 

 feeding busily, may be approached with ease under cover of the sandhills. They keep up a 

 constant cackling, both when feeding and when on the wing, being in this respect unlike the 

 Grey Geese, which usually feed in silence. The Bernacle Goose seems essentially a land-bird, 

 and is never known to settle on the water unless constantly shot at. It feeds entirely on grass 

 and the roots of the bents which grow on the sandhills. Gastronomically considered, the 

 Bernacle is by no means equal to the Brent Goose." 



In Shetland the Bernacle is a rare species ; and Dr. Saxby says that he saw it once at Balta 

 Sound, but knows of no instance of one having been obtained on those islands. On the coasts 

 of Ireland it is, Thompson says, a regular winter visitant, and is not uncommon. 



It is found in Greenland and Iceland. Professor Newton says that it is a regular autumnal 

 visitor to Julianehaab, and may perhaps breed in Greenland. Graah records it from the east 

 coast of that country ; and, according to Faber, it arrives in Iceland about the middle of April 

 and leaves about the middle of October. He found it most abundant in the south-west, though 

 not rare in the north ; but it has not been met with breeding there. 



Captain Feilden mentions but three instances of its occurrence in the Faeroes: — one of a 

 male, which was winged on Great Dimon in June 1864 ; a second was shot on the 20th November 

 1867, at Kirkeboe; and a third at the same place on the 30th of January 1868. 



It rarely touches Norway, Mr. Collett says, during passage ; stragglers are only met with 

 now and then in various parts of the country. This, however, is by no means the case as far as 

 Sweden is concerned ; for Nilsson says that it is common in spring and autumn in that country, 

 arriving in the autumn late in September or early in October in large flocks on the coasts of 

 Southern Skane, and returning again in March on its passage northward. It is rare on the coasts 

 of Finland, but is met with now and again on passage in the Gulf of Finland, usually in the 

 spring of the year. In the north of Russia it appears to be less common than the Brent ; and 

 I have been able to obtain but little information respecting its occurrence there. As regards 

 Spitzbergen, Professor Newton (Ibis, 1865, p. 512) doubts that it has ever been obtained there, 

 and believes that the record of its having been shot there rests on a confusion between it 

 and the Brent Goose; but Professor Malmgren states (Ibis, 1869, p. 230) that "it certainly 

 is an inhabitant of Spitzbergen." Many were seen in Advent Bay; and Dr. Smith killed 

 one in the beginning of August. Subsequently the Rev. A. E. Eaton met with this species in 

 Spitzbergen, and obtained seven specimens ; so there is no doubt that it is found there. This 

 last gentleman writes (Zool. 1874, p. 3815) as follows: — "We started on the evening of the 22nd 

 of July (James Kidd and I) to visit a lakelet on the hills opposite Diana Island. Mr. Potter had 

 reported the previous night that there were some queer-looking birds on it, such as he had never 

 seen before; and Mr. Leigh Smith said that in 1872 some of the same kind were found by him 

 there, but they had not shot any. On our first arrival at the edge of the lake we could see 

 nothing but a pair of Red-throated Divers swimming; and we therefore concluded that either 

 these were the birds we had come so far to see, or that the strangers had departed. In a minute 

 or two, however, we found that they had not gone ; for there they were putting off from the shore 

 at the other end of the water — a dozen or more of Bernacle Geese. Our plans were formed at 



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