150 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



as far as it goes, is explicit enough, but in a sub- 

 sequent letter Mr. Berkeley wrote: — "The bird 

 which Davis saw, and called a Brent Goose, Freeman 

 killed on a farm at the upper village [of Benefield]. 

 It attracted his attention by a peculiar call when 

 flying ; he marked it down at a pond, and, approach- 

 ing cautiously, secured it. It was a brown bird, and 

 carried its neck so close to its bodij when flying that 

 nothing of it ivas seen ; when dead, it was fully half 

 a yard long. It is not certain what became of it." 

 I must confess that, from the fact of the occurrence 

 of an Osprey at Biggin Lake being very much mixed 

 up in ]Mr. Berkeley's letters with that of this Goose, 

 I am extremely puzzled, and record the Brent Goose 

 as a Northamptonshire bird with very considerable 

 doubt. The present species, of whose natural habits 

 I am very nearly as ignorant as of those of the 

 Bernacle, is known to breed in " Spitzbergen, Novaya 

 Zemlya, and the coasts and islands of Arctic Siberia," 

 and in winter visits the eastern coasts of England 

 and certain parts of Ireland, occasionally in enormous 

 numbers — in fact, the bird is more or less well known 

 on most parts of the shores of the three kingdoms, 

 though locally comparatively scarce. The Brent 

 Goose is said to feed principally by day, but its 

 feeding-times are no doubt mainly influenced by the 

 tide, as it does not dive for its victual, which consists 

 of various marine grasses and other plants. The 

 flesh of this Goose is superlatively good for the table, 

 in my opinion no other Goose-flesh is at all to be 

 compared with it, and a heavy shot at Brent is the 

 summum honum of professional punt-gunners. In 

 my own experience this species has only done fairly 

 well in captivity, and has never nested or laid eggs 



