290 
THE BRANT. 
wardly. During their stay they feed on the bars at low water, 
seldom or never in the marshes; their principal food being a 
remarkably long and broad-leaved marine plant, of a bright 
green colour, which adheres to stones, and is called by the coun- 
try people sea cabbage; the leaves of this are sometimes 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 quar- 
rel among themselves, and with the Ducks, driving the latter off 
their feeding ground. Though it never dives in search of food, 
yet when wing broken the Brant will go one hundred yards at 
a stretch under 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 sel- 
dom 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 nume- 
rous in winter on the coasts of Holland and Ireland; are called 
in Shetland Harra geese, from their frequenting the sound of 
that name; they also visit the coast of England. Buffbn relates, 
that in the severe winters of 1740 and 1765, during the preva- 
lence 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, tramp- 
ling and devouring it; and notwithstanding the exertions of the 
inhabitants, who were constantly 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 
extent; 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 
