The Brent Goose. ^7 



procedure which I have known, more than once, bring them within range of an 

 ordinary sporting gun. 



The late Colonel Russell, of Stubbers, near Romford, Essex, who was a 

 regular correspondent of the writer's, had a large experience of Brent Geese, their 

 movements and habits. Regarding the proportion of old and young, he says, in 

 one of his letters : — " The Brent Geese seem to come to the Essex coast pretty 

 regularly about the beginning of the second week in October.* Sometimes the 

 first I hear of are not seen at all ; with a fair light wind, they may be heard 

 miles off at sea, far out of sight. In October, 1880, my informant, a very 

 experienced gunner, told me he was afraid there were no young ones ; he was 

 right; throughout the season, from the time of their first arrival, there was not 

 one young one to one hundred old ones. Last October, my informant about their 

 arrival was another gunner, who lives close to high water mark, in the part most 

 frequented by the Geese ; he told me that there were young ones amongst them. 

 These men are pretty close observers of some things ; they know when there are 

 young amongst the Geese by their voices. I soon had an opportunity of verifying 

 the presence of young Geese, by examining a small flock of fifteen and twenty 

 through a telescope, the sun shining on them. By watching them as they turned 

 their sides to the sun, I could make out that something like half of them were 

 young of the year. As far as I could make out, this was the proportion all 

 through the season. 



The proportions of young and old during the last four winters are : — 



1878-79 — About one young Goose to twelve old ones. 



1879-80 — Great numbers of young all the season. 



1880-81 — About (or less than) one young Goose in a hundred old ones. 



1881-82 — Nearly as many young as old." 

 Colonel Russell did not think the old and young come separately, but together. 

 The earliest record for them on the Essex coast is September 29th. The young 

 have always old amongst them. The mildness or coldness of the winter has 

 nothing to do with the presence or absence of young Brent. The proportion of 

 young and old is about the same in the Black and the White-bellied races. In 

 1846-7, weather mild, with a week of sharp frost in January, an Essex gunner 

 shot thirty dozen in that week, all old birds. On the Essex coast they feed 

 entirely on Zostera ; on the mud flats they eat by preference the roots or white 

 parts below the surface, leaving the green blades by cart-loads ; this is carried 

 out to sea, with westerl}' winds, in the next ebb, and furnishes plenty of food, 



* TJie earliest record for the east coast is in the "Migration Report" for 1879. Gorton Lightship— July 

 18th, twelve Brent ; July 30th, two flocks, thirty to forty, close past the vessel. 



