148 THE BIMDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



175. BERNACLE GOOSE. 



Bernicla leucopsis. 



The only occiirreiice of this species in our county 

 that has as yet come to ray knowledge was commu- 

 nicated to me by Mr. G. Hunt, of Wadenhoe, who, 

 in a letter dated April 13, 1883, wrote as follows: — 

 " I was roach-fishing at Starnel Corner (a bend of the 

 Nen, near Achurch) on March 28, without a fowling- 

 piece, and had just given up, about 5.30 p.m., when 

 on looking up, I saw six Geese coming flying towards 

 me down the broad reach from the mouth of Braunsea 

 Brook. They flopped past me a few feet above the 

 water in the centre of the river, and I was much 

 surprised to see that they were all Bernacles ; I 

 could see their eyes, white cheeks, and every feather 

 on them, as they were not more than twenty yards 

 from me. They ' lit ' near Chapman's osiers in 

 Achurch meadow, and I returned to Wadenhoe and 

 was down again with punt and gun Avithin an hour ; 

 but they had all gone." The Bernacle Goose is so 

 frequently kept in semi-captivity on lakes and ponds 

 in this country that, in the case of the appearance of 

 one or two individuals on our river, 1 should have 

 put them down as " escapes," but I think that my 

 readers will admit that it is at least very improbable 

 that six of these comparatively speaking valuable 

 birds should have been left unpinioned by their 

 owner and left their home in a flock: on these 

 grounds I consider that these six birds were genuine 

 wild Geese that, for some unknown reason, had 

 strayed far out of their usual route of northwaid 

 migration. The Bernacle Goose is a species of 



