THE BRITISH WILD GEESE. 271 



species, and therefore I shall not set down a list here of all those said 

 to be found in this locality, which still boasts of as many of the tribe, if 

 not more, than any one district in England. 



(To be continued.) 



THE BRITISH WILD GEESE. 



Read before the Natural History Section of the British Association, at Leeds, 

 September 24th., 1858. 



BY ARTHUR STRICKLAND, ESQ. 



Geese are a natural group of birds possessing several strongly-marked 

 characters; they are aquatic birds, but live and feed much upon dry land; 

 they feed in the day-time and rest at night, whereas ducks rest in the 

 day-time and feed at night. They of all birds seem to undergo the least 

 changes of colour in their plumage, the males, females, and young birds 

 in winter and summer being nearly alike, thus differing greatly from the 

 duck tribe. They have a character apparently peculiar to themselves, that 

 of having in many cases the most perfect and delicate colours of their 

 bills and legs when young, and losing that delicacy as they advance in 

 age, thus entirely reversing the usual order. Some of the British Wild 

 Geese, which we have now to consider, are so alike in plumage, that that 

 important character can hardly be taken as an element to assist in dis- 

 criminating the species, the forms and colour of their bills and legs, and 

 the habits of the birds in a state of nature, being all apparently that we 

 can safely rely upon. Besides this, they are the most difficult of all birds 

 to study, the determined and persevering sportsman only being able to ap- 

 proach them; the naturalist has but few and only casual opportunities of 

 examining them. From these circumstances the authors of works on British 

 Birds seem to have been satisfied to take matters as they found them, 

 giving themselves no trouble to examine carefully the characters of the 

 species they describe, and only giving the accounts of their appearance and 

 disappearance, and habits, as mentioned by others, and collecting the records 

 jrf their having been met with in various parts of the country. Now Mr. 

 Gould has given us three British Geese — the White-fronted, the Grey-lag, 

 and the Bean Goose, thus including all that are not the two first above- 

 named species, under the mysterious and misused names of Segetum, or 

 Bean Goose. I will first make a few remarks on these two. 



The Anas albifrons, or White- fronted Goose; in this the white band in 

 front, (which is seldom wanting,) the plain flesh-coloured bill, the conspic- 

 uous black patches on the breast, and the orange-coloured legs will always 

 murk this bird. It is not, or probably ever was, a regular migratory or 



