﻿BERNICLE GOOSE. 27 



such as are watered by the spray of the sea, and containing 

 particles of salt ; the Poa distans, and Juncus bulbosus are 

 among its favourites ; young shoots of rye and wheat are 

 equally devoured, but not before a scarcity of the shore 

 plants takes place. Among the food thus consumed, it 

 likewise devours many of the insect tribe and their larvse, 

 that swarm among seaweeds, and in soft muddy localities ; for 

 which end the bird swims frequently in shallow water, and 

 gropes for these substances with its head under water to glean 

 the bottom. In confinement everything that the domesti- 

 cated goose feeds on, suits this species, particularly green 

 food on the meadows, and the tri folium tribe. 



It is a well known fact that the Bernicle Goose does very 

 well in confinement, but heat distresses it, making it pant 

 with open beak. 



For the purpose of breeding these birds assemble in 

 large flocks in Lapland, the province of Archangel, and 

 in the bogs and morasses of the Samoiedes, and in many 

 similar northern parts, but we can learn no particulars on 

 this subject, neither have we ever seen an egg of this species ; 

 our drawing of the bird was made from a living specimen 

 in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park, where 

 several of them were kept for some years, but they have 

 not hitherto produced eggs, or shewn any inclination to 

 breed. 



The entire length of the Bernicle Goose, is from twenty- 

 four to twenty-six inches ; its wing, from carpus to tip, 

 about seventeen inches ; there is a blunt nob or spur at 

 the carpal joint ; the beak is one inch three lines in length ; 

 legs three inches two lines ; the middle toe two inches 

 six to seven lines ; the tail, consisting of fourteen feathers, 

 is five inches and a half in length, the outer feathers being 



