74 THE WHITE-FRONTED OR LAUGHING GOOSE.
DURING THIRTY years I have, myself, only twice met with this
species, and I have only once shot it.
On the 27th of November 1874, when boating down the
Jhelum, and when about half way between Shahpur and Jhang,
I caught sight of three Geese on a sand bank on the river, which,
looking somewhat like Grey Lags, yet struck me as being both
browner and smaller than this species. This was about 8 A.M.
I took a small boat and worked from up-stream very carefully
down on to the party, and succeeded in getting to within about
fifty yards, when they rose, and I knocked two down with
loose No. 3 shot out of the right barrel of a long double No. 10
bore, and the third, with a green (wire) cartridge, No. 2 shot, with
the left. When I first saw them, the three were seated close together
at the water's edge ; no other Geese were near; but a small
knot of Mallard were feeding on the brink about fifty yards
lower down. The Geese were very wary; rose to their feet as
soon as my skiff got within ninety or hundred yards, and walked
away inland from the water's edge as I drew nearer. It was
only by extreme care that I was able to get within shot.
Although I had knocked all three down, before I could
load again or land to secure them, one flapped away, along
the sand for some distance, and finally got on the wing
and flew heavily, barely rising two yards above the surface
of the water, across an arm of the river to the mainland ;
where it gradually sank in a bare field. I got my glasses
and saw that it was lying with its wings outspread and
head clown, and concluding that it was dead, I sent a
boatman to retrieve it. He got up to within a few yards of it,
when it suddenly stood up and flew off apparently all right.
Away it flew, quite out of sight down the river. I marked the
direction, followed it up, and after a long search, I found it
in the water in a side arm of the river. I worked up to it most
cautiously, but it rose at about hundred yards and flew off very low
across the river. Following the direction, I also crossed the
river, and striking inland found it, about half a mile from the
river, walking about slowly amongst some bare sandhills. There
was no cover, but I was able to crawl on hands and knees to
within about 80 yards, beyond which the sand stretched perfectlybare
and level. The moment I emerged our Goose started to
rise, I fired a wire B. B. cartridge at him, the pellets of which
cut the sand up all round him and rattled against his feathers,
but did not impede his progress. He now flew stronger than
ever, and went away inland for a good mile, but I ran to the top
of a .sandhill, and getting my glasses to bear, marked him
down precisely between three small trees. It was by this time
past midday, and very hot; all my people were tired of plodding
through the loose sand ; all objected to going further after
this Goose. In the first place they declared he had flown
away altogether out of sight ; in the second place they said
THE WHITE-FRONTED OR LAUGHING GOOSE. 75
I might have killed a dozen Geese during the time I had wasted
over this one wounded bird, which was, moreover, a very
small one. There was almost a mutiny, but I had marked the
bird precisely and insisted on going up to the spot. When we
got there, there was no Goose—a great triumph for the men. I
looked about for a few minutes ; the men said, "there, we told
you it flew out of sight." I said, " I know it did alight here just
at the foot of this tree," and I turned to go back to the boats,
when, as I passed the tree in question, suddenly from under a
little overhanging sandcrest, not five yards from my feet, out
flustered the Goose. I let him get away a suitable distance
and then rolled him over, dead at last. This, I regret to say, is
all I know of the species, and except that the note is rather
more harsh and cackling than that of the Grey Lags, I do not
find one single fact worthy of note recorded by European
writers in regard to their habits, food, and the like.
Though I have seen so little of this species, I have had reason
to believe that it is not so very rare in the sub-montane districts,
especially those of the North-West Punjab ; but making very
allowance, I do not suppose that one bird of this species visits this
Empire for every thousand of Grey Lags, or every five thousand
of the Barred-headed Geese. Elsewhere it is different. Shelley
says : " This is the most abundant Goose in Egypt, where it
may usually be met with in flocks, but does not remain in the
country later than March. When on the wing, they fly in a
wedge-shaped flock, and frequently utter a loud, harsh cry, which
may be heard at a considerable distance. They are generally
on the move just before sunrise and sunset, and as they are very
regular, taking the same line of flight and feeding at the same
spot each day, they may be most readily obtained by lying in
wait for them. If once fired at, the flock generally leaves the
neighbourhood altogether."
We cannot say certainly when this species arrives in India
or when it leaves us, but probably early in November and
towards the end of March. The specimens I killed had fed
entirely on some species of wild rice and on tender green
shoots of some grass or grain.
IN SIBERIA, Middendorff found it breeding up to the 7 4 ° North
Latitude, and this is about the only authentic account we have of
its nidification except in Greenland, where probably it is the
slightly larger-billed American form that occurs.
They seem to lay, much like other Geese, five to seven eggs,
thickly bedded in and covered with down, (which the female
gradually accumulates about them as incubation proceeds,) in a
good sized nest, placed on the ground near inland waters.
The eggs arc said to be yellowish white, and vary from 3-0 to
32 in length, and from 1-95 to 21 in breadth.