THE BRENT GOOSE. ‘4147 
but not to be distinguished from it by any mark of the 
plumage; the young birds have the wing quill feathers 
broadly tipped with white, while in the old birds they 
are purely black. 
There is a variety of this fine goose, pretty well known 
on Long Island, the true name of which is Hutchins’ 
Goose, or Hutchins’ Brant; it is somewhat smaller, and 
in lieu of the lateral white throat patches, has a white- 
gorget a good deal similar to that of the Canada Goose. 
We now come to the modes of killing this delicious 
bird, of which there are four; three of them, me judice, 
utterly unallowable, cockney and pot-hunter like, and the 
fourth unhappily the least profitable to the gunner, 
although the Brent Goose has one habit which may be 
used to some advantage in this the only legitimate mode. 
That mode is the scooping out a niche from the muddy 
side of some island, or point of hassock, kussick, or thatch, 
as it is called in the bays, and therein mooring a skiff, or 
Egg Harbor boat, with its decks heaped with trash and 
sea-weeds, the gunner lying on his back therein, with his 
two heavy guns prepared for a passing flock, and his 
decoys scattered over the calm waters in front of him, 
when’ if a fleck chancé to pass, and,-observing the 
anchored deceits, wheel down to them, he is secure at 
once of sport, and of after excitement in pursuing and 
picking up the cripples. : 
The disadvantages to this method are the following: 
First, the Brant is on our waters a lazy, inactive bird, 
