this locality on which they have existed and bred for an unknown
number of years. He was further told by Mr. A. G.
More, of the Dublin Museum, that he had seen about a
hundred—herded, not paired—throughout the summer, on a
lake near the sea in co. Wicklow (‘ Fowler in Ireland,’ p. 154).
The Grey Lag Goose has been proved to breed in Iceland;
but it no longer does so in the Faeroes, although it visits
them. It is still numerous on the west coast of Norway,
and the late Richard Dann, who supplied the Author with
interesting notes referring to many of the species of this
extensive family of birds, more particularly as to their
breeding-ground and habits in Scandinavia, says: “ On the
inlets and islands from Bergen northwards, these Geese
are not uncommon during the summer, particularly about
Hitteren, where they are tolerably numerous early in August,
and one of our party shot one there, which proved to be a very
large gander. Their migration so far north, however, seems to
be confined to the coast, for I never met with them in Lapland,
or in the northern parts of Sweden or Norway. They make
their appearance in the Elbe at the latter end of August or
the beginning of September, remaining there until October,
and then go further south.” This species breeds in Denmark,
Sweden, Finland, Russia, and some parts of North Germany;
locally in Bohemia; and occasionally in the marshes of the
south of Spain. Throughout the rest of Europe it occurs on
migration ; and in winter it is believed to visit the lakes of
North Africa in small numbers. According to Henke and
Bogdanow, it breeds in abundance in the deltas of the Volga
and the Terek, on the Caspian; and it probably nests in
other localities of a similar nature on the borders of Europe
and Asia. Its breeding-range does not appear to extend to
the northern portions of the latter, but only as far as
Turkestan, Kashgharia, Mongolia, and Amurland; and in
winter the bird visits China as far south as Shanghai, and is
abundant in India down to the Central Provinces*; some
* Large Asiatic birds, with some white at the base of the bill, more black on
the under parts, and less grey on the wiDg-coverts and rump, have been separated
by the name A. rubrirostris, Hodgson.
species of large Grey Goose, as yet unidentified, has also been
observed in Ceylon.
The nest of the Grey Lag Goose is placed on the ground
in a tuft of coarse grass, or among rank heather, and is
composed of grass, dried flags, &c., without any true lining
until the eggs are deposited, after which the sitting female
keeps on plucking down from her breast and surrounding
them with it. The eggs are usually six in number, but
twelve are said to have been found ; their colour is a dull
yellowish-white, and the average measurements are S’5 by
2’4 in. In Scotland this Goose is an early breeder, generally
hatching out by the middle of May; but in Northern Europe
incubation is somewhat later. The males leave the fens
when the females begin to sit, and collect in flocks near the
water, to which the females conduct their young when they
are ready to go.
This species feeds inland, and, unless very much harassed,
always by daylight; its aliment consisting of vegetable substances
; but at dusk it sometimes resorts to the neighbourhood
of the sea, where sand-banks, promontories, and low
islands enable it to roost unmolested. The sportsman’s term
for a flock of Geese is a “ gaggle,” probably from the noise
made by the birds.
The beak is of a pink flesh-colour, the horny nail at the
extremity of each mandible white ; the hides brown; the
head, nape, back of the neck, and the upper part of the back,
ash-brown, the latter-named part with lighter-coloured
edges ; inner portion of the wings, scapulars, and tertials,
lead-grey, with broad and lighter grey-coloured margins;
upper wing-coverts, and all the feathers on the primary
portion of the wing, except the quill-feathers beyond the
first three, very light bluish-grey; the three outer quill-
feathers also light grey on the upper portion :—the rest dark
lead-grey—all with white shafts ; the lower part of the back
and the rump uniform light bluish-grey ; upper tail-coverts
white; tail-feathers greyish-brown on the outer webs and
white on the inner, with white tips; chin, neck in front, and
the breast, of a lighter grey colour than the back of the neck ;