THE BERNACLE GOOSE. 

 Bernicla leucopsis, Bechstein. 

 Plate 44. 



Rather rare on the eastern coasts of Great Britain, the Bernacle is a common 

 winter visitor to the Outer and Inner Hebrides, the western shores of Scotland, 

 and north-western coast of England, becoming less numerous towards the south 

 of the latter country. Large flocks visit the shores of the northern half of Ireland 

 in winter, but seldom the south. 



The Bernacle breeds within the Arctic Circle, on the eastern side of far-away 

 Greenland, in Spitsbergen, and other remote regions. Little appears to be known 

 about the nidification of this species, but Millais tells me, on the authority of the 

 Danish explorer Mickelsen, that the latter found the Bernacle Goose breeding in 

 colonies on steep cliffs in north-east Greenland. 



The eggs laid by birds in captivity are white. 



I am indebted to Mr. Talbot Clifton for some particulars regarding these birds 

 in the Outer Hebrides, furnished by Murdoch MacDonald, gamekeeper. South 

 Uist. 



The Bernacles arrive there every year about the 25th October, and at first, 

 owing, perhaps, to the number of young birds among them, are much tamer than 

 they become at a later time. 



After having rested for ten days or so, they begin to move about from one place 

 to another, feeding during the day and also on moonlight nights. Their food 

 consists entirely of grass. 



Before leaving for their breeding grounds in the far north the birds become 

 very wild, and at last congregate in one large flock on the extreme outermost point 

 of land in the Atlantic, when they all take their departure together, between the 

 20th April and the end of the month. Occasionally birds which have been 

 wounded remain throughout the summer, but these never breed. 



It is hardly necessary to allude here to the quaint legend, popular in former 

 days, of the generation of the Bernacle Goose from the shell-fish of the same name, 

 attached to floating timber in the sea. Macgillivray describes the voice of this 

 species as clear and rather shrill, and as coming agreeably to the ear when the cries 

 of a large flock are heard at a considerable distance. 



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