The Brent Goose. 85 



the preceding — the Bernacle Goose. In Ireland it occurs' in many localities, and 

 abundantly wherever its favourite food is to be got. Some of the chief localities are 

 Strangford, Lame, and Belfast loughs, but I know of no place where it may be 

 found in greater abundance than Blacksod Bay, Belmullet. Altogether it may be 

 said that the positions chosen by the Brent Geese on the coasts of Great Britain are 

 the result of the abundance, or otherwise, of their favourite food, the common 

 grass- wrack fZostera vtarinaj. 



The Brent Goose occurs as a spring and autumn visitor, on migration, to 

 Fseroe. It nests nowhere on the mainland of Europe, and is not recorded as 

 breeding in Iceland, although it is not improbable the nest will some day be 

 found there. 



It breeds in immense numbers on the large islands, and groups of islands, 

 north of Europe and Asia, as Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Joseph Land, 

 the Taimyr peninsula, and as far eastward as the new Siberian islands. Mr. A. 

 Trevor-Battye saw immense numbers of old and young in one part of Kolguev, 

 in July. It is curious that the old birds had both dark and light coloured breasts 

 and bellies. Great quantities were taken in nets by the Samoyeds, for winter 

 consumption. The result of one drive, witnessed by Mr. Trevor-Battye, was three 

 thousand two hundred Brent, thirteen Bean, and twelve White-fronted Geese. 



The Brent breeds in North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and on 

 lands on the American side, as far north as man as yet penetrated. In Parry's 

 expedition, a nest with two eggs was taken at Rose inlet, in lat. 80° 48' N., on 

 June i6th, the most northern land at that date ever reached by man.* In 1895 

 it was not seen by Mr. H. L. Popham on the Yenisei, south of 72° N., where 

 young in down were taken.- — ("The Ibis," 97, p. 99). In the autumn in America, 

 it occasionally wanders as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and has once (15th 

 November, 1876) been shot in Barbados. 



There are two, if not three, races of Brent Geese which visit the shores of 

 the British Islands — one, the so-called East Atlantic form, our typical Brent 

 Goose ; this comes from the Arctic islands of Europe, and has the neck and 

 upper breast black, ending abruptly in a well-marked line, and the belly smoke- 

 grey. In the V.^'est Atlantic form, from Greenland, the under parts below the 

 breast are pure white. This latter is much the less common. From the valley 

 of the Lena, eastward to Bering's Straits, the Black Brent (Anser nigricans) with 

 the belly nearly as black as the breast, and no distinct lines of parting between 

 the two shades ; in this the white marks on each side of the neck are continuous 

 in front. 



* Subsequently by Colonel Feilden, 82° 30' N. 



