ZOOLOGY. 



NOTES ON THE BIEDS OF THE BASIN OF THE TAY 



AND ITS TEIBIJTAKIES. 



By Colonel H. M. DRUMMOND HAY, C.M.Z.S., B.O.U., &c. 



( Continued from p. 309. ) 



113 Anser FERUS, Steph. (Grey Lag Goose.) 



114. Anser segetum, Meyer. (Bean-Goose.) 



115. Anser brachyrhynchus, Baill. (Pink-footed Goose.) 



116. Anser albifrons, Bechst. (White-fronted Goose.) 



The Carse of Gowrie, once the great stronghold of Wild Geese 

 (consisting of the above four species), where from time immemorial 

 they assembled in countless hordes, is still their principal place 

 of resort, though in greatly reduced numbers,— the construction 

 of a railway through the very heart of the ground they used to 

 frequent, and the increased number of buildings which have 

 sprung up in consequence within the last thirty years, having 

 combined, together with steam -mills, &c., to drive them off 

 the ground in a great measure — the Bean-Goose and White- 

 fronted Goose having almost entirely disappeared, especially the 

 former. The Grey and Pink-footed Geese are still, however, to 

 be seen in pretty considerable flocks in the lower Carse from 

 the first week of October till about the third week of April, when 

 they take their departure for their breeding-grounds in the north. 

 Of these the Pink-footed are by far the most abundant. It is 

 singular that it should only be comparatively a very few years ago 

 since this bird was known to naturalists, it having always been 

 confounded with the Bean-Goose — the credit of their separation 

 being due to M. Baillon of Abbeville, who was the first to point 

 out the specific distinctions between the two only as far back as 

 1833. Long before this it was well known to every Wild-Goose 



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