ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. gI 
Young.—In feather similar but paler, and more white in 
plumage. 
Egg.—lIvory white; three to four in number (Baird, 
Brewer, Ridgway). Probably March—May. Incubation, about 
thirty days. 
BRENT OR COLLARED GOOSE. 
(Branta bernicla. Bernicla torquata). 
Of this Bernicle Mr. Seebohm states that there are three 
forms, the Pacific Brent Goose, the ordinary Black-bellied 
Brent, and the White-bellied Brent (Bernicla glaucogaster ). 
Both these last species visit our shores, the latter variety being 
very scarce. Mr. Seebohm states that unlike many species the 
Brent Geese migrate in one flock, old and young together, 
being very shy and wary, descending in large numbers to tear 
up and devour the roots of the grass-wrack (Zostera marina), 
which grows upon the mud banks of the sea shore and estuaries 
of our rivers. The breeding place of the Brent Geese is, 
according to this author, Arctic America, Nova Zembla, and 
Spitzbergen, whence they descend in winter to the Meditera- 
nean, and as far as the Black Sea and the Delta of the Nile. 
According to Major Feilden, who accompanied the Nares 
Arctic Expedition, the Common Brent arrives in the extreme 
north of the Arctic regions to breed early in June, the nests 
being placed on the slopes near the sea, containing four or 
five creamy-white eggs embedded in down. Dr. Brehm writes 
of the Brent Geese, that they are caught in enormous numbers 
in decoys upon the southern coasts of the Baltic, and in 
Holland, during the spring and autumn months, whence they 
are sent into our markets, after having been fattened for some 
