THE BRANT. 133 



eight or ten inches broad by two or three feet in length ; they also 

 eat small shell fish. They never dive, but wade about feeding at 

 low water. During the time of high water they float in the bay 

 in long lines, particularly in calm weather. Their voice is hoarse 

 and honking, and when some hundreds are screaming together, 

 reminds one of a pack of hounds in full cry. They often quarrel 

 among themselves, and with the ducks, driving the latter off their 

 feeding ground. Tho it never dives in search of food, yet when 

 wing broken the Brant will go one hundred yards at a stretch un- 

 der water ; and is considered, in such circumstances, one of the 

 most difficult birds to kill. About the fifteenth or twentieth of 

 May they re-appear on their way north ; but seldom stop long, 

 unless driven in by tempestuous weather. 



The breeding place of the Brant is supposed to be very far 

 to the north. They are common at Hudson's Bay, very numerous 

 in winter on the coasts of Holland and Ireland; are called in Shet- 

 land Harra geese, from their frequenting the sound of that name; 

 they also visit the coast of England. Buffon relates, that in the 

 severe winters of 1740 and 1765, during the prevalence of a strong 

 north wind, the Brant visited the coast of Picardy in France, in 

 prodigious multitudes, and committed great depredations on the 

 corn, tearing it up by the roots, traitipling and devouring it ; and 

 notwithstanding the exertions of the inhabitants, who were con- 

 stantly employed in destroying them, they continued in great force 

 until a change of weather carried them off. 



The Brant generally weighs about four pounds avoirdupois, 

 and measures two feet in length, and three feet six inches in ex- 

 tent ; the bill is about an inch and a half long, and black ; the 

 nostril large, placed nearly in its middle ; head, neck, and breast 

 black, the neck marked with a spot of white, about two inches 

 below the eye; belly pale ash edged with white; from the thighs 

 backwards white ; back and wing coverts dusky brownish black, 

 the plumage lightest at the tips ; rump and middle of the tail co- 



VOI , VIII, L 1 



