184 
ANAS BERNICLA. 
of food, yet, when wing-broken, the brant will go one 
hundred yards at a stretch under water; and is con- 
sidered, in such circumstances, one of the most difficult 
birds to kill. About the 15th or 20th of May, they 
reappear on their way north ; but seldom 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 numerous 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. Buffon relates, 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, not- 
withstanding 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 avoir- 
dupois, 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 below 
the eye ; belly, pale ash, edged with white ; from the 
thighs backwards, white ; back and wing-coverts, dusky 
brownish black, the plumage lightest at the tips ; rump 
and middle of the tail-coverts, black ; the rest of the 
tail-coverts, pure white, reaching nearly to the tip of 
the tail, the whole of which is black, but usually 
concealed by the white coverts ; primaries and secon- 
daries, deep black ; legs, also black ; irides, dark hazel. 
The only material difference observable between the 
plumage of the male and female, is, that in the latter 
the white spot on the neck is less, and more mottled 
with dusky. In young birds it is sometimes wanting, 
or occurs on the front, cheeks, and chin ; and sometimes 
