BIRDS. 



223 



barnyard birds than Wild Geese. He adds that "White-fronted 

 Geese are almost equally idiotic," but he has long since cast aside his 

 ^^beautifully painted, galvanised geese. 



Anser segetum (Gmel). Bean Goose. 



By no means so common as had been supposed for many years. Indeed, 

 it may really be marked Rare. 



Stated to have been formerly more abundant, but of late years 

 has almost disappeared. The cause is supposed to be the former 

 haunts having been built over, and covered with the houses of the 

 wealthier merchants of Dundee, as well as the increase of traffic on 

 the tidal Tay. This can easily be credited, as I know well how 

 conservative these birds are, and how they cling to and regularly 

 frequent old patches of ground in the western isles — a habit indeed 

 common to several other species of Geese in the Hebrides and else- 

 where. The above-recorded subsequent scarcity is interesting, if 

 correct, and we must, I consider, credit such experienced gunners 

 and wild-fowl shooters for its being so. Still, I must draw attention 

 to the fact that for many years such experienced ornithologists as 

 Macgillivray, Jardine, and others, down to quite a recent date, gave 

 credit to the Bean Goose as the commonest Goose of our east 

 coasts. Whereas the next species which comes to be spoken of was dis- 

 covered to be the commonest, and the Bean the rarest, of the Grey 

 Geese frequenting our shores. 



The Bean Goose frequents Loch Leven along with others of the 

 Grey Geese, but seldom in great numbers, and feeding and mixing 

 along with Pink-footed Geese on the feeding grounds of the islands. 



Millais — than whom few can be said to have greater knowledge 

 of the wild-fowl of Tay and Eden and the east coast of Scotland 

 generally among trained and experienced ornithologists — considers 

 the Bean Goose as "a rare species," and he adds : " I have only seen 

 three specimens within the Perthshire area. One of these I bought in 

 a shop in Dundee, which had been killed the previous day at Glen- 

 carse. The second I killed myself on Loch Leven (Forth), and the 

 third has escaped any particulars in my notes." 



Anser brachyrhynchus, Baill. Pink-footed Goose. 



Abundant. Regular visitant in autumn and winter. This is the 

 commonest of our Grey Geese which comes to us in migration and 

 remains in numbers to pass the winter. But as indicated above under 



