74 NATURAL HISTORY of NO RTF A T. 



reft, fome may be (hot ; fome alio, by fogs or bad weather, are 

 bewildered ; and others from faintnefs, or fome other accident, 

 are left behind till Winter *, when the flocks return from 

 Nordland to France, where fome people are of opinion that 

 they winter ; tho' I won't alledge it for a certainty : for as to 

 thefe fort of Birds of paffage, their breeding and other circum- 

 ftances are not rightly known to us in thefe parts. 



strangeflight. Thofe that are catched and fhot here are fat and well-tafted : the 

 mod remarkable thing with refpetl to thefe Graa-Gises is the regula- 

 rity and order they keep in their annual flights and peregrinations 

 both hither and back again. This has been confirmed by many 

 witneffes. Each flock confifts of 30, 40, or more; and they 

 fly partly in two lines j and toward the hindermofl end they 

 ftand pretty far from one another, but the foremoft go clofe 

 together, and form a pyramid ; fo that they cut the air to make 

 it eafy for the reft: but as the foremoft are fooneft tired, it is 

 obferved, from time to time, that the three foremoft at the 

 point retire behind, and other three come forwards ; and fo they 

 continue to cut the air, taking turns for the foremoft place ; and 

 thus alternately, a whole or half a day, they go on in regular 

 order, and without turning out of their direct line, unlefs when 

 one grows tired, and then, perhaps, it muft ftay behind. This 

 is certainly a Angular thing in natural hiftory, and may give man- 

 kind a good leflbn how to help one another in fociety. Some- 

 thing of this kind is affirmed concerning the Deer, when they 

 in droves pafs a river. 



Fager-Gaas. . Another fort which ftay longer with us, is what we call the 

 Fager-Giaes ; they are a clean and pretty Goofe ; they have a 

 white ring round their neck : they are called alio Urgia Sj 

 becaufe they live inUrer, or heaps of (tones, under the rocks along 

 the ftiore. They are bigger than a Duck, but lefs than a Goofe : 

 the general colour is a mixture of white, blue, brown and 

 black ; they are greenifh on the head, and the bill and feet 

 are red ; the flefh is not fo good as that of the former : we know 

 not where they fpend their Winter ; they come here in the 

 beginning of April, and are not feen after Michaelmas-day. 



When the eggs are taken or deftroyed, the cock beats the 

 hen with his wings, and makes her cry difmally. In the fub- 

 terranean holes, where they lay their eggs, there is two openings ; 



* A friend gives me an account, that the Graa-Gaafer breeds alfo on the iflands 

 near the ocean in Rycfylke, tho' not in any great number. In Jedderen is a water 

 where thofe Geefe which lofe their feathers, or that could not follow the flock, ftay 

 all the Summer, and with a little trouble may be catched in great quantities. 



fo 



