68 £he zoologist. 



in a bad light, but so far as I could judge, it has no claim to be a 

 distinct species ; its belly is blacker, but it seemed to differ less 

 from our black kind than does the white-bellied. Capt. Feilden 

 tells me that he thought he had sent a specimen from Nova 

 Zembla : Mr. Sharpe cannot find it ; it may possibly be in one 

 of the chests packed to go to South Kensington, and I hope may 

 turn up yet. 



We had a good many Brent Geese this last winter, considering 

 the mildness of the weather ; quite early there were about 300, 

 and more came from time to time till there were 1000 or more 

 between the Blackwater and Crouch Kivers. Very few were shot. 

 I heard from different places on the Suffolk coast that, on Dec. 

 13th and 16th, in foggy weather, there were great numbers of 

 wildfowl on the sea, near land — Wigeon, Ducks, and Brent Geese. 

 Many passed along the Essex coast about the same time, but 

 made no stay. They were probably migrating southward cau- 

 tiously in the fog. 



Our coast is more disturbed than ever ; people have taken to 

 hunting the fowl in steam-launches, which have about beaten off 

 the sailing-boats, and of course drive the birds away more, as 

 they can go dead to windward, and without any wind ; every bird 

 that swims is driven away, — even such rubbish as Scoters, — 

 except the Brent Geese, which keep well out of the boat's way, 

 but will not, however, leave the country. I think they will soon 

 cease to visit us, the disturbance getting worse and worse, and 

 the feed failing more and more. The Zostera marina is gradually 

 disappearing everywhere on the Essex coast, and in all the rivers. 

 The first I heard of this disappearance was at Whitstable, in 

 Kent, some forty years ago. The history of the growth and 

 increase of mud-flats and weed, and breaking up of the former 

 and disappearance of the latter, is curious. I do not know 

 whether it would interest you. 



The geese have less and less feeding-ground every year ; 

 there is hardly a place where they can sit at low-water and feed 

 far enough from the edge not to be liable to be disturbed, yet 

 the geese of late years come more regularly than thirty to forty 

 years ago ; then in mild winters we often saw none, or next to 

 none, through whole seasons. I know not why this is ; perhaps 

 because, on account of a run of good breeding years, there are 

 more of the birds ; or perhaps, as there is much less of the weed 



