594 
TILE BERNTGLE GOOSE. 
cooking it, a process which removes the rank savor of the flesh. Even the fishy-flavored sea- 
birds can be rendered eatable by this curious process. 
The Gray-Lag Goose may be known from its congeners by the pinky bill, with its white 
horny nail at the tip of the mandible. The head, nape, and upper part of the back are ashen- 
brown, and the lower part of the back bluish-gray. The quill-feathers are leaden-gray ; the 
chin, neck, and breast are gray ; and the abdomen white. The average length of the adult 
male is not quite three feet. 
The Bean Goose has its chief residence in the Arctic circle and high northern latitudes, 
and coming southward about October. 
Mr. Selby mentions that the Bean Goose breeds annually upon several of the Sutherland 
lakes, and in some places it becomes nearly as tame as the common species, but refuses to 
associate with them. These birds fly in flocks, varying in form according to their size, a little 
band always flying in Indian file, while a large flock assumes a V-like form, the sharp angle 
being always forward. These flocks alight on fields and cultivated grounds, and often commit 
sad ravages before they again take to wing. On account of this habit the bird is called the 
Harvest Goose in France. 
The beak of this species is rather slender and pointed, and its color is black with an 
orange centre. The head and upper parts are brownish-gray, the primaries are of a darker 
hue, both tail-coverts are white, the throat and breast are grayish- white, and the abdomen is 
pure white. The length of the bird is about thirty -four inches. 
The Bernicle Goose seems to prefer the western to the eastern coasts of Europe. 
The name of Bernicle Goose is given to this bird because the olden voyagers thought that 
it was produced from the common barnacle shell, and this notion had taken so strong a hold 
of their minds that they published several engravings representing the bird in various stages 
of its transformation. The positive manner in Avhich they put forth their declaration is very 
amusing. “ What our eyes have seen, and hands have touched,” writes Gerard in his 
“Herbalist,” “we shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of 
Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have 
been cast thither by ship- 
wracke, and also the 
trunks and bodies with 
the branches of old and 
rotten trees, cast up there 
likewise ; whererq is found 
a certain spume or froth, 
that in time breedeth into 
certain shels, in shape like 
those of the muskle, but 
sharper pointed and of a 
whitish color, wherein is 
contained a thing, in form 
like a lace of silk finely 
woven as it were together, 
of a whitish color ; one 
end whereof is fastened 
into the inside of the shel, 
even as the fish of oisters 
and muskles are ; - the 
other end is made fast 
unto the belly of a rude 
masse or lumpe, which in time commeth to the shape and form of a bird ; when it is perfectly 
formed, the shel gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string ; 
BEKNICLE GOOSE .— Bernicla leucopsis. 
