. The aquatic birds of Great Britain and Ireland . nted, and the remainderBean-Geese. Two of the latter species appeared to act assentinels. It took me fully half an hour to distinguish thetwo species, for it was necessary to watch through mybinocular until each bird, in turn, faced me so that thetransverse black bars, or the absence of such, on the breast,could be discerned. Continuing my observations, I notedhow the birds slowly paraded through the marshy of them were heading in the same direction, and nowand then one would halt to preen its feathers, while afew others steered lei
. The aquatic birds of Great Britain and Ireland . nted, and the remainderBean-Geese. Two of the latter species appeared to act assentinels. It took me fully half an hour to distinguish thetwo species, for it was necessary to watch through mybinocular until each bird, in turn, faced me so that thetransverse black bars, or the absence of such, on the breast,could be discerned. Continuing my observations, I notedhow the birds slowly paraded through the marshy of them were heading in the same direction, and nowand then one would halt to preen its feathers, while afew others steered leisurely across a muddy pond ; thegreater part of the flock, however, were engaged in feeding, buta few were resting, each supported on one leg. As the birds It might be suggested that the supposed Bean-Geese were only thesombre-plumed immature White-fronted Geese. But this is unlikely fortwo reasons, (a) immature birds do not act as sentinels to the flock, (b)the numbers of adults in a flock would hardly exceed the immaturebirds to such an AVHITE-FEONTED GOOSE 59 approached the edge of the tide the sentinels appearedto grow less anxious, and bending their necks towards thewater, commenced to feed on the surface. This species is, with the exception perhaps of theBrent, the most abundant of the Wild Geese which visitIreland, and the one most frequentl} exposed for sale nipoulterers shops. The Bean-Goose is more connnon inEngland. The White-fronted is easily tamed and thriveswell in captivity. Illustrative of the affection which this birdmay foster for other animals, I cite an mcident con-cerning a White-fronted Goose, a cat and a retriever bird grew so fond of these animals that it was permittedto sleep and feed in the same outhouse. The case is remark-able as the dog had previously retrieved the bird, winged bya sportsman, from the water, and dragged it ashore, shakingit considerably before landing it at the gunners side. Thebird must have been strong to have sur
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectwaterbi, bookyear1906
