The Bean Goose.
(Anser ségetum.)
The Bean Goose visits us only in winter, for it breeds in the most northern portion of our hemisphere, whence it is driven to our milder regions by the extreme cold of winter. Here it waits for spring, then it hurries back to its breeding place on the coasts of the Northern Ocean. It lays seven to ten white eggs in its simply-formed nest in the inhospitable desolate land of its birth. When obliged to leave the nest it carefully covers up the eggs in order to preserve their warmth.
These birds move southwards in great flocks towards autumn. Some of them come to us, and in many places cover the fields in swarms, and in the case of their settling constantly in the same places, they may do considerable harm by nibbling, tearing up and trampling over everywhere generally.
When the winter is very severe here, and the seeds are covered with a thick layer of snow, Geese go still further south, some of them even crossing the Mediterranean; but they return directly the weather becomes milder. From this comes the shepherd’s prophecy: “When the geese go south we may expect great cold; when they go north warmer weather is coming.” The birds assemble in great flocks,—usually at the beginning of March, if wind and weather are favourable—and return to their home, where, separating into strings, they scatter themselves over the Polar regions.
This is the “Wild-goose” as known to shore shooters. It does not breed in our islands at all, but comes to us in
THE BEAN GOOSE.