THE BRENT GOOSE. 
51 
of wild fowl here was neglected for a long period, t both these 
species may now again, more than 170 years after the above 
was written, be seen in St. James's Park, and in company 
with species which were wholly unknown at that period. 
A number of the strangely fanciful old stories respecting this 
and the following species being produced from the Cirripede of 
the same name, which adheres to the bottoms of ships, are brought 
together in the volume of the f Library of Entertaining Know- 
ledge/ entitled ‘ Habits of Birds/ p. 363. The belief is still 
current among the Irish fishermen and those who dwell about 
the sea. 
THE BBENT GOOSE. 
Anser brenta , Elem. 
„ bernicla , Linn, (sp.) 
,, torquatus, Belon. (sp.) 
Is, except in summer, a constant inhabitant of suitable 
localities around the coast. 
This species is commonly described by British authors, as much 
more frequent on the eastern coast of Great Britain than on the 
western, on which the bernacle is said to be chiefly found. Even on 
the coast of the county of Sutherland, which stretches across Scot- 
land, the distribution of the two species is stated to follow the same 
rule.' 5 *’ This cannot be owing to any laws of. geographical distri- 
bution, as the brent goose is in Europet abundant still farther to 
the west than Great Britain ; — namely, in Ireland, where it is found 
on each side of the island, according to the simple rule of the suita- 
bleness of the locality — an abundance of Zoster a marina, in so far 
as my observation extends, determining that point. Montagu, too, 
had remarked, in reference to this island, that brent geese <c are 
in greatest abundance in those rivers that empty themselves into 
* St. Jolrn, ‘ Tour in Sutherland/ vol. i. p. 139. 
f It is common on the coasts of the United States, &c., of America. 
