The SNOW GOOSE (Anser [Chen] hyperboreus) has the entire plumage of a pure white, with the exception of the first ten quills, which are black, with white roots, and white shafts tipped with black. In young birds the feathers on the upper back, shoulders, a portion of the neck, the breast, and sides are blackish grey; the head and nape are shaded with grey; the lower back and feathers on the upper tail-covers are dark grey; the primary and secondary quills greyish black, the latter bordered with greyish white; the tail-feathers are also dark grey, and similarly edged. The eye is dark brown, the beak dull pale red, edged with black, and the foot pale bright red. This species is from twenty-six to twenty-seven inches long, and from fifty-two to fifty-three broad; the wing measures sixteen and the tail six inches.
"The young of this species," says Audubon, "begin to acquire their whiteness about the head and neck after the first year, but the upper parts remain of a dark blueish colour until the bird suddenly becomes white all over, at least this is the case with such as are kept in captivity. My friend Dr. Bachman, of Charleston, South Carolina, kept a male Snow Goose several years along with his tame Geese. He had received it from a friend while it was in its grey plumage, and the following spring it became white. It had been procured in the autumn, and proved to be a male. In a few days it became very gentle, and for several years it mated with a Common Goose, but the eggs produced by the latter never hatched. The Snow Goose was in the habit of daily frequenting a mill-pond in the vicinity, and returning regularly at night along with the rest; but in the beginning of each spring it occasioned much trouble. It then continually raised its head and wings, and attempted to fly off; but finding this impossible, it was anxious to perform its journey on foot, and it was several times overtaken and brought back, after it had proceeded more than a mile, having crossed fences and plantations in a direct course northward. This propensity cost it its life; it had proceeded as far as the banks of the Cooper River, when it was shot by a person who supposed it to be a wild bird." A Snow Goose kept by Audubon himself exhibited the same desire to go northward on the return of spring.
When migrating northward, although they start at the same time, the young and old keep in separate flocks, the young continuing to remain apart from the old even when approaching the higher latitudes. During the whole winter, indeed, they remain divided, although in the same localities; and Audubon informs us that, although the young and old are often seen to repose on the same sand-bar, the flocks keep at as great a distance as possible from each other.
The SEA GEESE (Bernicla) are comparatively small, compactly-built birds, with short necks and moderately large heads; the short delicate beak is strong, broad and high at its base, slender towards its tip, and slightly denticulated at its margins; the foot is low, but powerful; and the wing so long as to extend as far as the tip of the short tail, which is rounded at its extremity. The thick plumage is principally of a deep grey, marked with black, white, and reddish brown. These Geese are met with in the extreme north of Europe, Asia, and America; the American, formerly considered as distinct from the European, being evidently only a variety. The home of these birds is to be found upon the coasts and islands situated between 60° and 80° of north latitude. Only a few breed in Iceland; but in Spitzbergen they are very numerous, and further east they abound throughout the summer along all the shores of the Icy Ocean; they are likewise numerous in Hudson's Bay and the neighbouring waters. From the above inhospitable regions they make annual pilgrimages to warmer[Pg 136] climates, appearing in Great Britain towards the end of October or the beginning of November. At this time they crowd the vicinity of the coast in thousands and tens of thousands; far as the eye can reach they may sometimes be seen wading around the banks of sand and amid the shallows left by the receding tide; their cries are to be heard above the roar of the surf; and the masses, when they take flight and rise into the air, resemble at a distance a thick and wide-spread smoke, their numbers being absolutely incalculable. A few individuals may also be sometimes seen in the interior of the country upon lakes and other large sheets of water; these, however, can only be regarded as stragglers: all Sea Geese well deserve the name, as under ordinary circumstances they never leave the coast. As relates to their ordinary food, these birds differ from Common Geese in so far that, besides grass and marine plants, they eat a considerable proportion of animal food. In northern regions they feed upon whatever is there to be met with. With us they prefer meadow grass and tender herbage. In captivity they readily feed upon grain, to which, however, should be added a considerable proportion of green vegetables.
THE BRENT GOOSE.
The BRENT GOOSE (Bernicla torquata) is black upon the head, neck, quills, and tail; the feathers on the breast, back, and upper belly are dark grey, with light tips; the sides of the belly, rump, and upper tail-covers are white; the sides of the throat are decorated with a white crescent-shaped patch. The young are without the white feathers on the throat, and are darker than the adult birds.
The Brent Geese are constant summer visitors to the British shores, arriving in October and departing about the end of April. These birds are distinguishable beyond all others of the family by the elegance of their movements and their peaceful demeanour; they walk well both upon firm ground and over a muddy surface; they swim rapidly and buoyantly, and dive with facility; their power of flight surpasses that of any other Geese; they do not, however, when flying adopt the wedge-like arrangement so commonly seen among their congeners, but make their way through the air in large noisy flocks, in which the birds are promiscuously crowded together. The noise made by one of these vast assemblages, as they rise from the ground, resembles the roll of distant thunder, and even when flying at a considerable elevation the movement of their wings produces a whizzing sound which is distinctly audible. Their voice is very harsh; the call-note somewhat resembles the syllables "Kn-āng," often repeated; when feeding they utter a rough hoarse "Krōch," while their expression of anger is a low hiss. Like others of their race they always live associated in flocks, and should an unfortunate straggler become accidentally separated from his companions, he may be seen flying anxiously about in search of others of his species, never resting until once more safe in their society. The behaviour of these birds in the presence of man proclaims them at once to be unsophisticated children of the north, who have never experienced the tender mercies of their arch-enemy. They seem at first to witness his approach without any suspicion of danger, and it is only after suffering severely for their temerity that they become wild and distrustful. On their first arrival, indeed, whole families of them may sometimes be killed with stones and clubs, and they are taken in snares more easily than most other Geese.
"In calm weather," says Colonel Hawker, "these Geese have in general the cunning to leave the mud as soon as the tide flows high enough to bear an enemy, and then they go off to sea and feed on the drifting weeds. To kill Brent Geese by day, go out in a small punt at low water, and keep as near as possible to the edge of the sea. You will then hear them like a pack of hounds in full cry, and they will repeatedly pass within fair shot, provided you are well concealed, and the weather is windy to make them fly low. Before you fire at them, spring suddenly up, and these awkward birds will be in such a fright as to hover together and present a mark like a barn door. The Brent Geese[Pg 137] when fat are excellent eating." In confinement they are at first exceedingly timid, but soon become reconciled to their new condition, and even show marked attachment to those who feed them, coming at their call, and, if kindly treated, following their footsteps like dogs. In a farmyard, or upon a large pond, they are extremely ornamental, and deserve much more attention than they have as yet received. The Brent Geese have been long known to breed in considerable numbers on the shores of Spitzbergen, but it is only recently that we have had any definite accounts of their proceedings. Malmgren tells us that their breeding-places are chiefly to be met with in the western and northern coasts of the island, and on the rocks in the vicinity, more especially in places resorted to by Eider Ducks. Their nests are very rudely constructed with the stems and leaves of water-plants, and are often placed so close to those of the Eider Duck that those birds frequently steal their eggs in great numbers. The brood of the Brent Goose consists of from six to eight comparatively small, thin-shelled, lustreless eggs, of a dirty, greenish white colour. Middendorf found a young bird newly hatched about the middle of July. Further than this we have no information.
