THE BRENT GOOSE. 
63 
but these were carried off. The birds were supposed to have re- 
mained in consequence of having been wounded, as were others, 
since seen and shot there in summer. 
Although the brent goose is a wary species, it becomes at once 
tame, when wounded, and on the first day of its captivity under 
the cabin roof of the wild-fowl shooter, has eaten of oats or por- 
ridge. In one instance known to me, it drank water from a cup 
held in the hand, and nibbled over the fingers of its cup-bearer as if 
seeking for food. This bird preened its plumage, too, on the floor 
of the house, some hours after capture, and seemed in all respects 
as much at home as if it had been on the high seas. I have fre- 
quently known these birds, when slightly wounded, and secured 
from again taking flight by being pinioned, kept at country seats, 
where there were ponds, about Belfast. They remained there ap- 
parently quite contented at all times, except at the migratory sea- 
son, when they became very uneasy, running backwards and for- 
wards, flapping their pinioned wings in extreme anxiety to be off 
to far northern summer haunts. Some kept at the Balls, without 
being enclosed, had to be narrowly watched every year when under 
the influence of the vernal migratory movement. They then wan- 
dered as far northward as they could proceed with their disabled 
wings. One, kept at Cranmore, the residence of John Temple- 
ton, Esq., for nineteen years, acted like those just described every 
spring for about the first twelve years ; after which period it 
ceased to exhibit any particular feeling at that season. These 
brent geese either fed on grass, like the tame geese, or took 
share of whatever food was supplied to poultry or other domestic 
birds about the place. A flock of seven— all birds obtained by 
being wounded — kept for the last two or three years by Mr. B. 
Chute, in Kerry, resort to the fields and feed wholly on grass. 
Brent geese are mild and gentle in disposition. At the Balls, 
where they were kept for many years, they were never seen 
either to quarrel among themselves (of which bernacle there 
were occasionally guilty), or with other birds, as Wilson accuses 
their American brethren of doing. The shooters of the north of 
Ireland bear testimony to the good and amiable character of the 
