Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks
‹Better GutenbergBritish BirdsBarnacle Goose — Bernicla Leucopsis · 133 of 220Contents›

British Birds

by W. H. Hudson and Frank E. Beddard

133 of 220 · Contents · Download EPUB

Barnacle Goose — Bernicla Leucopsis

Head, neck, and throat black; forehead, cheeks, and chin white; a black stripe between the eye and bill; mantle lavender-grey barred with bluish black and white; wing and tail feathers blackish; breast and belly greyish; vent and tail-coverts pure white; flanks barred with grey; bill, legs, and feet black. Length, twenty-five inches.


The present species is not nearly so abundant as the brent, and not so exclusively marine in its habits. It sometimes visits inland districts, and although it feeds on the mud-flats like the brent, it leaves them as soon as the tide rises, and repairs to some grassy bank of a river or lake, where it feeds. The breeding habits of this species are not known; it is believed to have its nesting-grounds in Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla.

← Back to British Birds

Scroll to Top