though doubtless they partake of the pasture. No person being permitted to fire a
: ' captured in little pitfalls, dug

; They were
the cause of ,

| when I observed them,

their tameness.
Several placed in the
and gentle disposition.
n flying over the sea and

aquatic menagerie at the Falls,

) was probably
About the middle of

i in the least degree injured.
id proved to be of a wild

shot on Lurgan Gree!
in the earth, without beit
became tame, al
1848 and 1849, flocks of about twenty
off Analong, at the base o
eround, and were he
‘are visitant, chiefly in the early
eginning of August. The bird

haunt is the locality above

 

Belfast, at once
in number were see
1s of Mourne. They flew in

aded by an old stager whose

. near
| October, in the years

points of land in a southerly di
a line, like wild geese,
strongly defined.
e bird has been obtained the

rection, f the mountat
rds above the sea or
In Belfast Bay the Bernicle Is a
re as late as the b

about twenty ya
I

;
adult plumage was

part of winter; but a sing!
has been met with in many other parts of the country ; but its ouly regular

 

 

 

wurgan Green.”
&e. it is very abundant, frequenting

id such sands as produce the sea-

mentioned—I
Mr. Selby states that ‘‘ upon t
are occasion.

he Lancashire coast, the Solway Frith,

ly covered by the spring tides, al

Like the rest of the genus it is a very wary bird, and can only be

the marshy grounds that
grasses and plants upon which it feeds.
It is sometimes shot by moonlight when it comes on the

any occasional shelter in such places as
It is

cautious manoeuvres.
e ground, or from behind
t and tender, and highly esteemed for the table.
; stands high upon the ground. When

approached by the most
) sands to feed, by persons crouched on th
| the flocks are known to frequent. Its flesh is swee
, and from the length of its neck and tars

a bird of handsome shape
but no attempts have been hitherto

caught alive it soon becomes very tame, and thrives well upon grain &c. 5
made to domesticate the breed.”

. brief as it is, would be still more
Its trivial name o

n surpassed.

so (and, moreover, incomplete) without at least an
f Bernicle [or Barnacle] is derived from an
It is that the bird derives its origin

The history of this species
allusion to the old legends connected with it.
the absurdity of which has scarcely, if ever, bee
Lepas anatifera of Linneeus. ‘ This curious f
filaments of that animal to the sprouting feathers of a young
of the Goatsucker and the

oft-told tale,
from the Barnacle shell, the
vom the slight resemblance of the
; but, like the milking-propensity
llowed to rest in its grave.” Those who
to Professor Max Miller’s ‘ Lectures on

ancy,” says Macgillivray, *‘ which no

doubt arose {
bird, is still entertained by many persons
f the Swallows, it might now, I think, be a
may wish to read the legend in part or in the whole, may refer
anguage, p. 040, or to the 12th volume of Shaw’s ‘ General Zoology,’ p- 50.

has been made to domesticate this fine Goose. It is to be re-
d birds readily breed in a semidomesticated state at

winter submersion oO

the Science of I
Mr. Selby states that no attempt

gretted that this bas not been done; for pinione

Hawkstone, the seat of Viscount Hill, who kindly allowec

I suspect, however, that it would be necessary to pinion the

| 1 me to shoot one for the purpose of the present
work. y | i
0 k young birds so reared, to prevent their
obeying the 1 se that w ss urge the igre i 1 i i
ying he impulse that would doubtless urge them to migrate to countries better suited to their existence
during summer—probably Lapland, Finland, northern Russia, and Siberia.
Mr. Newton, in his ‘ Notes > Orni ry of ‘ a int 1 i i
“ini : s ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of Iceland,’ informs us that, according to Faber, this species
arrives in Iceland about the middle of April, and departs about the middle of October. He found it most
abundant in the South-west, but does not believe that it breeds on the island

There is no perceptible differ i : ,
S e difference »¢ ‘ing aan . .
| | erence in the colouring of the sexes ; but the markings of the male are stronger

 

and more beautifully arranged.

The Jernic > 1S ¢ C ar ¢ “A oe .
| age le is a smaller and more elegant bird than the Bean Goose, and on the other hand is much
arger than it ‘ar ally » Bre its welo aa

here s near ally the Brent, its weight being about seven pounds.

AS it 18 impossible to represent s k ae : . .

so large < . s natural size Pee .
| irge a bird of the natural size, my figures are necessarily much

 

reduced.