Oysters, though reckoned out of season at this period, are as good as ever when fresh from their beds, and my first meal was of some as large and white as any I have eaten. The sight of them placed before me on a clean table, with an honest and industrious family in my company, never failed to afford more pleasure than the most sumptuous fare under different circumstances; and our conversation being simple and harmless, gaiety shone in every face. As we became better acquainted, I had to answer several questions relative to the object of my visit. The goodman rubbed his hands with joy as I spoke of shooting and fishing, and of long excursions through the swamps and marshes around.
My host was then, and I hope still is, a tall strong-boned muscular man, of dark complexion, with eyes as keen as those of the Sea-eagle. He was a tough walker, laughed at difficulties, and could pull an oar with any man. As to shooting, I have often doubted whether he or Mr Egan, the worthy pilot of Indian Isle, was best; and rarely indeed have I seen either of them miss a shot.
At day-break on Monday, I shouldered my double-barrelled gun, and my host carried with him a long fowling-piece, a pair of oars, and a pair of oyster-tongs, while the wife and daughter brought along a seine. The boat was good, the breeze gentle, and along the inlets we sailed for parts well known to my companions. To such naturalists as are qualified to observe many different objects at the same time, Great Egg Harbour would probably afford as ample a field as any part of our coast, excepting the Florida Keys. Birds of many kinds are abundant, as are fishes and testaceous animals. The forests shelter many beautiful plants, and even on the dryest sand-bar you may see insects of the most brilliant tints. Our principal object, however, was to procure certain birds known there by the name of Lawyers, and to accomplish this we entered and followed for several miles a winding inlet or bayou, which led us to the interior of a vast marsh, where after some search we found the birds and their nests. Our seine had been placed across the channel, and when we returned to it the tide had run out and left in it a number of fine fishes, some of which we cooked and ate on the spot. One, which I considered as a curiosity, was saved and transmitted to Baron Cuvier. Our repast ended, the seine was spread out to dry, and we again betook ourselves to the marshes, to pursue our researches until the return of the tide. Having collected enough to satisfy us, we took up our oars, and returned to the shore in front of the fisherman’s house, where we dragged the seine several times with success.
In this manner I passed several weeks along those delightful and healthy shores, one day going to the woods to search the swamps in which the Herons bred, passing another amid the joyous cries of the Marsh Hens, and on a third carrying slaughter among the White-breasted Sea Gulls, by way of amusement sometimes hauling the fish called the Sheep-head from an eddy along the shore, or watching the gay Terns as they danced in the air, or plunged into the waters to seize the tiny fry. Many a drawing I made at Great Egg Harbour, many a pleasant day I spent along its shores; and much pleasure would it give me once more to visit the good and happy family in whose house I resided there.
THE BARNACLE GOOSE.
Anser leucopsis, Bechst.
PLATE CCXCVI. Male and Female.
Several old gunners on the coast of Massachusetts and Maine, who were Englishmen by birth, assured me that they had killed Barnacles there, and that these birds brought a higher price in the markets than the Common Brent Geese. The Prince of Musignano states in his Synopsis that they are very rare and accidental in the United States, and Mr Nuttall says that they are “mere stragglers” there. For my part, I acknowledge that I never met with one of them, either along the coast or in the interior, although I have seen beautiful mounted specimens in various parts. Being neither anxious to add to our Fauna, nor willing unnecessarily to detract from it, I have figured a pair of these birds, with the hope that ere long, the assertions of the gunners, and those of the authors above mentioned, may be abundantly verified by the slaughter of many geese. In the mean time I must further confess my ignorance of the habits of the Barnacle.
Mr Selby thus speaks of it in the second volume of his Illustrations:—“The Bernicle is amongst the number of our winter visitants, annually resorting in vast numbers, upon the approach of autumn, to the western shores of Britain, and to the north of Ireland. Upon the Lancashire coast, the Solway Frith, &c. it is very abundant; frequenting the marshy grounds that are occasionally covered by the spring-tides, and such sands as produce the sea-grasses and plants upon which it feeds. Upon the eastern and southern shores of Britain it is of rare occurrence, its place being supplied by its nearly allied congener, the Brent Goose (Anser Brenta); which again is as rarely seen upon the opposite coast of the island. Like the rest of the genus, the Bernicle is a very wary bird, and can only be approached by the most cautious manœuvres. It is sometimes shot by moonlight, when it comes on the sands to feed, by persons couched on the ground, or from behind any occasional shelter in such places as the flocks are known to frequent. Its flesh is sweet and tender, and highly esteemed for the table. Upon the approach of spring it leaves our shores for more northern countries, and by the middle of March the whole have retired.” It is known to breed in Iceland, Spitzbergen, Greenland, &c. as well as in Lapland, the northern parts of Russia, and northern Asia. It also inhabits Hudson’s Bay and other polar districts of the American continent. During its equatorial or winter migration, it is abundant in Holland, France, and parts of Germany.
The eggs, which I describe from specimens deposited in the rich museum of the University of Edinburgh, measure two inches and seven-eighths by one inch and seven-eighths, and are of a uniform yellowish-cream colour.
I have represented an adult male in spring, and a female of the preceding year.