ANATIDA. 409 
THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 
BERNICLA LEUCOPSIS (Bechstein). 
Competent observers seem to agree that the Bernacle Goose 
is a rather uncommon winter-visitor on the east coasts of England 
and Scotland, and chiefly occurs there when the weather is very 
severe on the Continent; while on the shores of the English 
Channel as well as inland, it is decidedly rare. On the west side, 
from Cornwall northward, it is not infrequent, and it is of regular 
occurrence in Lancashire and Cumberland ; and in the upper part 
of the Solway Firth thousands are sometimes seen from the end of 
September—when they begin to arrive from the north-west—until the 
latter part of March. The same may be said of the Outer and Inner 
Hebrides and the neighbouring mainland, except that the birds are 
later in leaving for their breeding-grounds. To the Orkneys this 
species is a tolerably regular visitor, and Mr. Harvie-Brown found it 
plentiful in autumn in the south of Shetland, where, however, it 
does not pass the winter. In Ireland it is somewhat local, but 
rather abundant on the north and north-west coasts, as well as along 
Dundalk Bay on the east. There is, however, some difficulty in 
tracing its distribution, inasmuch as the Brent Goose is often 
misnamed “ Bernacle.” 
In the Feroes and Iceland this species is of irregular occurrence ; 
while it is unknown in Arctic America except as a very rare visitor 
