166 
THE BRANT. 
arrive from the north, and many remain in the bay till Decem- 
ber, or until the weather becomes very severe, when these also 
move off southwardly. During their stay, they feed on the 
bars at low water, seldom or never in the marshes ; their prin- 
cipal food being a remarkably long and broad-leaved marine 
plant, of a bright green colour, which adheres to stones, and 
is called, by the country 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 quarrel 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 15th or 20 th of May, 
they reappear on their way north ; but seldom stop long, un- 
less 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 sand of 
that name ; they also visit the coast of England. Buffon re- 
lates, 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, 
trampling, and devouring it ; and, notwithstanding the exer- 
tions of the inhabitants, who were constantly employed in de- 
stroying 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 
