(Branta bernicla), water bird that resembles small, short-necked forms of the Canada goose but is much darker and, though black-necked and black-headed, lacks white cheeks; instead it has a more or less extensive narrow white neck ring and is "bibbed" like the barnacle goose. It breeds in the Arctic and winters southward into Eurasia and North America. See also barnacle goose.
outer borough of London, on the northwestern perimeter of the metropolis. It is part of the historic county of Middlesex. Edgware Road, on the line of the Roman Watling Street, forms its eastern margin. The borough includes such areas as (roughly from north to south) Queensbury, Kenton, Preston, Kingsbury, Neasden, Sudbury (in part), Wembley, Cricklewood, Willesden Green, Stonebridge, Willesden, Alperton, Brondesbury, Kilburn, Harlesden (in part), and Kensal Green. Brent was formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of Wembley and Willesden (both in the former Middlesex county). It is named for the small River Brent, a tributary of the River Thames that formed the boundary between the former boroughs of Wembley and Willesden. Within the borough are Victorian and later residential suburbs, industrial areas, office centres, and immense tracts of railway land